Love and Eternity, Part One: Disturbed
by CaptainRaspberry
Summary: In the year 2151, the Eternal series has been declared Maverick and must be hunted down. However, in order to take down one Eternal, the Maverick Hunters are going to need the help of the other six. Repost.
1. Chapter 1

**BEFORE READING:**

I wanted to clear something up for you. This is not a new story. This is a repost of a story I wrote on the _Bob and George Forums_ in 2005 over the course of nine months. I am posting it here for archival purposes, as those forums have begun deleting a lot of their old threads for a server move. This story was one such deleted thread, so I'm reuploading it here on FFNet so it can continue to live.

I was a much less experienced writer three years ago, and part of the reason I want to save this story is so I can look back on it and remember just how far I've come. As novels go, it suffers from some novice mistakes: inconsistent chapter lengths, simple and sometimes contradictory characterization, lack of a solid background, attempts to be too ornate for my skill level, and on. It was a very early piece of mine, and you can see where I began to develop my unique style as a writer.

Of course, there are some good things about it, too. The writing grows stronger the further in, my style beginning to emerge during its creation. As far as characters go, this story contains some of my favorites. And, as my father said (though it was meant as a criticism): "It reads like an anime." Plus, it's a classic.

So by all means, kick back and enjoy the story. Feel free to leave reviews, just remember that there's nothing I can do to change anything in this (I've given some thought to revising this, but it's just too daunting a task).

Oh, and this series _is _on-going, so I'll upload more eventually as they're finished.

* * *

CHAPTER 1

**Santiargas, Mexico**

**13:01 March 7th, 2151**

The hot sun beat down on the little town of Santiargas. The natives there sweat buckets daily, water vendors made a nice living, and Mavericks never showed up: too hot, too sticky, and by far too useless. People here lived without fear of being attacked by Irregulars or occupation by the Hunters. The dark-skinned men and women, and the occasional Reploid, walked the streets in peace and unhindered by brutes. It was a slice of _Cielo_, a mini-utopia, and the perfect place for a fugitive to hide out in.

A Reploid sat on the rough sand that made up the street, back against the stucco building, a large sombrero casting shade over his head and part of his upper body, a dust-brown poncho covering almost all the rest. A golden shoulder poked out on his right side, gleaming in the sun, while two dusty blue boots with red rimming were visible where the poncho ended. Armored gauntlets were clasped over his red chest under the fabric, and a gold-and-blue helmet with a light green, round-edged triangular jewel adorning the front. Thick gold plating lined the underside of the helmet, but it was broken away in a few places, revealing faded blue armor underneath. It stopped short, and a thinner line continued just above it, linking to the place where the visor would go if it had one. This was also cracked, and the blur armor that was under it all had large cracks and chips running throughout.

He heard sand crunching and shifting in his general direction, the distinct sound of boot steps. He remained still, trying to appear like he was dozing. Another man was sitting across the street from him doing the same, but he had the benefit of shade from the building he was leaning against. The poncho'd Reploid didn't flinch as the boot steps approached, three from what he could tell now, as he expected them to pass by just like everyone else. They didn't; they halted in front of him. Maybe they just wanted to sell him something?

_click-click!_ The distinct sound of Buster Rifles being armed and leveled at a target, and it was directed at him.

_Of all the rotten luck..._

"¡Oye, señor!" one of the people (Reploids, he guessed) standing in front of him said. Definitely male, scratchy voice from breathing too much desert air while being used to the comfort and climate-controlled environment of a big city. Also, he could tell they were not accustomed to speaking Spanish, since he spoke without the proper accent.

"Yo no hablo el idioma," the blue-and-gold armored Reploid said in a carefully crafted accent. Of course it was carefully crafted: it was almost all he knew Spanish-wise, and he found himself saying it often.

There was a sigh, and the voice continued, but this time in clear English: "Taggs Eternal?"

Taggs decided it would be worth it to look at the intruders on his peace and quiet. He tipped his sombrero and looked up, and was first met by an eyeful of rifle barrel. He looked beyond the instruments of war shoved in his face and saw three Reploids, Hunter insignias jumping out at him. The one in the center was obviously older than the other two and was male. He had close-cropped black hair and stubble growing on his chin. Hard brown eyes tried to bore a hole in the gold-and-blue armored Reploid's face, but he remained impassive. The one to the left was definitely younger, black hair like the other one only longer and it came into a small ponytail in the back. He had more emotion on his face, seeming to be anxious and a little fearful. The Hunter on the right was female, with auburn hair that hung down about mid-distance down her back. Her face was impassive as well. They all wore bulky and heavy green armor with the Hunter insignia emblazoned on the right shoulder. In addition to the rifles they held in their hands, each had a specialized weapon strapped to their backs: the eldest one had a sniper rifle, the pony tailed one had a rocket launcher, and the female had what looked like a shotgun but had some strange configuration Taggs didn't recognize.

"Good afternoon, officers," the gold-and-blue Reploid addressed them, sarcasm lining his voice, "What can I do for you on this lovely day here in Santiargas? You look hot, maybe some of the local water peddlers can--"

"Cut the crap," growled the middle Hunter, "Are you Taggs Eternal or not?"

"Yo no entiendo inglés."

"Look you stinking Maverick filth!" the pony tailed boy said, "It's not a hard question! Now, since we all know who you really are, why don't you just come with us so we can get back to proper civilization?!" All the people in the streets had quieted down upon hearing the term "Maverick", and some of the older ones fidgeted.

"Jon, tone it down," the other male said, obviously the team leader.

"Your commander's right, son," Taggs piped up again, "The elders in this town don't respond very well to the word 'Maverick', and most of the younger folk have never seen one."

"Hmph, yeah right... there's one right here," Jon muttered under his breath.

"Jon! Shut it!" the team leader hissed, and looked about ready to physically reprimand the youngster.

"Uh, captain? The mission?" The female finally spoke.

"Oh, right," the captain said, "Listen, whoever you are, you've given us too much trouble already. If you'll just come back to base with us, I'm sure we can get your ID cleared and you'll be on your merry way."

"Yeah, into a jail cell..." Jon said under his breath.

Taggs stood up and dusted off his poncho. He removed his sombrero, revealing his bright, true-red hair to the world. Two thick, long bangs hung down in front of his eyes, but the rest of his hair was neatly cut. He bent down and picked up his helmet, brushed some sand out of it, pushed back his bangs and fitted the helmet to his head with a _snap!_

"Forget it," the gold-and-blue armored Reploid said, turning to walk off, "I'm not going with you. Hunters make me sick."

A shot rang out, and a scorched hole was punched in the wall just behind Taggs. The Reploid stopped walking, and turned rapidly on his heel. Instead of seeing what he expected, the youngest-looking Hunter holding a smoking rifle, he saw the team leader holding a smoking rifle.

"We asked you nicely," he growled, "Be warned, sir, that we are authorized to use force."

The gold-and-blue armored Reploid shrugged. "Feel free," he said, his tone dripping with anticipation. They hesitated only a moment before all three Hunters fired. Taggs moved out of the way as the shots struck buildings and push-carts all around the streets. Panic erupted in the streets as people ran about, shouting "¡Ataque de inconformista! ¡Todos esconden!" Taggs nimbly dodged between the civilians while the Hunters in their bulky armor had a harder time moving through the panicking throng of people. The heavily-equipped soldiers also found it impossible to fire at their target with all the civilians getting in the way.

However, it didn't take long for the people on the streets to clear out and run for cover in the nearest buildings, so the poncho-wearing Reploid found himself without cover. Immediately, rapid fire from the rifles opened up and peppered the ground around Taggs. He took a few hits that burned through the poncho, and he growled in frustration. Spinning, he quickly threw off the poncho and popped a weapon from a hip holster. It was his Magnum Buster, a hand-held prototype unit meant for Reploids with no built-in weapons. It was the "ancestor" of the rifles that Taggs' opponents now used against him, but he had managed to upgrade it over the years to keep it up-to-date. It hooked directly to his power core rather than use its own limited supply of energy. The gold-and-blue armored Reploid held down the trigger, and individual plasma shots started pouring from the barrel. The Hunters now found themselves under heavy fire.

"Jon! Knock him off his feet!" barked the team leader authoritatively, "Maria! Get ready!"

_A plan, is it?_ Taggs thought wryly as he braced himself. _It'll be interesting to see what these Hunters have come up with. After all, it's been many years since I last saw them_. He noted with satisfaction when the youngest Hunter dropped his rifle and grabbed the rocket launcher. The pony tailed boy clicked the firing contact and a missile screamed out of the tube. It went too high and missed Taggs by a good half-a-foot, but the gold-and-blue Reploid knew that it wasn't aimed at him. The shell exploded behind him, and made him lose his footing. He regained his balance just in time to see the female Hunter had withdrawn the shotgun-like device and had it leveled at him. She pulled the trigger and a net sprung out of the barrel, flew through the air, and wrapped around Taggs with a snap!

The bound Reploid tumbled to the ground while the stubbly Hunter said, "Good work, guys. Let's get him onto the chopper."

Suddenly, Taggs started laughing. It went from just a small chuckle, to an outright guffaw, to an insane, almost sadistic laugh. "You idiots!" he cried out, squirming in the net, "Didn't your loser of a commander brief you? I don't think I'm to be taken lightly..." To the Hunters, it appeared that Taggs was squirming, but the gold-and-blue Reploid was repositioning himself. Within himself, at the same time, he started releasing safeties and prepping systems he hadn't found himself needing for a long, long time. An internal warning sounded as the mechanical and mental suppressors of his Eternal Core fell away, allowing him to access the depths of his power.

**Bringing Eternal Core Overdrive online...**

**Booting main functions...**

**WARNING!**

**The system is unstable. Recommend running a medic-assisted diagnostic to determine point of instability.**

**/WARNING!**

**System last used: 2150**

**Percentage last used: 380**

**System fully online and ready for activation.**

Taggs felt power flow through him in waves, a little counter "appearing" in his consciousness. He let it climb upwards steadily from 100 until it reached 200, then he cut it off; that level should be more than enough to deal with just three Hunters. He began to steadily flex his muscles, and just a moment later a snapping was heard. The gold-and-blue Reploid's gyros barely strained at all against the net that bound him. The Hunters stared in shock as their target literally ripped right up out of the net, the cords snapping over him. Without a word he moved quickly, dashing towards the team leader. His beam saber popped out of its holster hidden in Taggs' right thigh, and the gold-and-blue Reploid grabbed it and swung upward, cutting off his left arm. The Hunter screamed out in pain, but Taggs quickly spun around behind him and slammed his fist into the back of his head, effectively knocking him out.

The female Hunter seemed shocked for too long a time, and Taggs took full advantage of this. He briefly flashed his dash thrusters, launching him up in the air. He angled downward, landing behind the shocked Huntress. His hands moved almost too fast to see: one hand latched on to the top of her head while the other grasped her chin. Firmly holding her head, he twisted it roughly ninety-one degrees to the left. A loud snap! was heard, and the Reploid fell to the ground, the signal between her robotic brain and her power source being severed. The core stopped receiving signals to run, and without the core running, the rest of her entered shut-down, a state even the most basic technicians could fix. But still, a trickle of conductive fluid, a Reploid's "blood", stemmed from the corner of her mouth.

Two rounds struck Taggs in the shoulder, the actual damage just glancing off. He looked up to see the pony tailed Hunter firing his rifle wildly in his general direction. The gold-and-blue armored Reploid scowled and proceeded to duck and weave his way through the rifle fire. As soon as he got close enough, he grabbed the boy's wrist and squeezed and twisted until he felt it crack and shatter under the pressure. Jon let out a surprised and pained gasp, his rifle tumbling out of his hands and clattering to the ground. Still clutching the broken wrist, the Eternal swung around behind him, twisting until he heard two more cracks that signified the fracturing of his lower arm and shoulder. He then fiercely grabbed his other arm and snapped the upper arm clear in two, the manufactured bone jutting out of the skin and even penetrating the armor.

The Hunter gasped, trying to form words but found the pain too intense. Instead, he just mouthed sounds until Taggs kicked the back of his knees, knocking him to the ground. Bending low, Taggs whispered in the beaten Hunter's ear. "This is why you should always ask for all the information during a briefing. You never know who you're up against." He stuck a hand in one of the pouches on the Hunter's belt and rummaged around, his fingers finally brushing up against what he was looking for. He grabbed it and yanked it out: a Hunter Distress Beacon. He hit the red button, and a screen on the small unit lit up and began flashing. Dropping it beside the fallen Hunter, the gold-and-blue Reploid began to walk away.

About a yard away, however, he paused, and glanced over his shoulder. "By the way," he said to the barely-conscious Hunter, "Tell Calibur that I said hi." He then resumed his walk.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

**Boston, MA; United States of America**

**8:24 March 8th, 2151**

A somewhat-loud grunt sounded from one of the rooms in the mid-sized apartment, cluing Midnight into the fact that his sister was now awake. Having awoken only a few minutes ago himself, he suffered from bed-head, his messy purple hair sticking out in a flower pattern. He wore a flowing purple robe, but was sans the wide-brimmed hat. Midnight snatched a pear from a fruit bowl on the counter of the kitchen, and, as an afterthought in kindness towards his sister, turned on the coffee-maker and started some toast.

Finally, out of the doorway that led to her room stumbled Lafteroth. She yawned emphatically, scratching at her side through her green jammies as she rubbed sleep from her blue eyes. Her hand briefly swept over one of her ice-blue eye-streaks and felt the prick of coldness on her hand. She quickly removed her hand from her face and rubbed it vigorously on her shirt, heating it back up by friction, and then wiped a few strands of her white hair out of her eyes.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Midnight called out from the kitchen as the toast popped up and the coffee-maker dinged a sign that it was finished. He quickly grabbed the bread, spread some butter on it, and poured a cup of coffee. Lafteroth walked in, grunted a greeting, and snatched up the toast and coffee. Leaning against a counter, she began to consume her breakfast.

"I still don't know why you eat that," the purple Reploid went on, "Not only does it taste nasty, but you don't need to. You only need to eat metal to recharge your ARNs."

She shrugged and swallowed before replying: "It's a comfort thing. It feels nice to have something in my stomach that's not cold metal that dissolves almost immediately anyway. Regardless, what are you doing up so early, Middy?"

"Don't call me that," he said as he crossed over to the door leading out into the hall. "My name is Midnight, and you know it." Lafteroth shrugged again. The male Reploid opened the door, bent down, and retrieved the newspaper lying on the floor. Shutting the door, he silently mused, "Do we even pay for this thing anymore?" Crossing a small hallway, he entered the living room and fell into the couch, enjoying his pear as he read the headlines.

"Middy," his sister said, "Why does toast always land butter side down?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's kind of like a rule of life," he said, his eyes skimming over the paper, "It's like 'why is a penny only lucky when it's heads up' or 'why did the chicken--'" He suddenly stopped speaking and uttered a slight gasp. Immediately, Lafteroth knew something was wrong: Midnight was usually very stoic, quiet, and serious, never letting personal emotions show often. She ran out into the living room.

"What's wrong?!" she said as she came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the couch, and looked over her brother's shoulder at where he was pointing in the paper: the front page. "'Famed roboticist and paleontologist Dr. Xavier Cain, father of the Reploids, died last night at the age of 91.' Oh my god..." She stopped briefly, considering the news, before continuing to read aloud: "'He died of natural causes, surrounded by friends and family, and his last words were said to have been those of confidence in the future. We were unable to get an exact quote. Funeral services will be held on March 10th, and will be broadcast world-wide by multiple news stations. Having created multiple millions of "children", only a few hundred will be allowed to attend in person. The Maverick Hunters, an organization founded by Cain, will be firing a 21-gun salute...'" The white-haired Reploid skimmed ahead, "'In his will, Cain left everything to his 27-year-old son, Artemis Cain, from his own personal possessions to his corporation responsible for producing 80 of the known Reploids in the world.'

"That's a lot of responsibility to leave on one person," she thought aloud. Pausing, she added, "We should go."

"What?!" Midnight practically spat out his pear, "But he didn't create us!"

"So? He's famous! Besides, if it weren't for him, X would never have been discovered and we wouldn't exist!" she replied. "If we can't get tickets, we'll sneak in."

He looked over his shoulder and into Lafteroth's eyes, and saw the playful yet tricky glimmer in her eyes that he hadn't seen for several months. He felt a shiver run down his spine. "No, no, too risky to try and sneak in," he muttered. Reaching into his coat pocket, he withdrew three folded pieces of paper and handed them over to Lafteroth. "These might work, though."

She opened them up and looked at them, her eyes lighting up. "Invitations?!" she exclaimed, "How did you get these?"

"Dr. Cain and Dr. Locke were apparently old college buddies," Midnight said apathetically. "I found them in the newspaper as I opened it up. And, since the three of us are the last living creations of Locke, I guess Artemis figured that we were worthy of attending. Better break out that black dress of yours."

Suddenly, there was a cough from behind them, and the two looked back to see their brother Shandor in a tank top and boxers. He rubbed at his eyes in a similar manner that Lafteroth had, and yawned too. "What did I miss?" he muttered, just before what remained of his sister's toast struck him in the face.

Butter-side first, of course.

* * *

**Mexican-United States Border**

**11:36 March 8th, 2151**

Taggs ran at full speed towards the border, his feet sinking into the sand and pushing out with every movement. Normally, running so hard for so long would have been exhausting for a Reploid to the point of death, but the gold-and-blue armored Reploid kept a constant supply of energy going from his core to his body, keeping it at full ability.

He saw shapes in the distance: at first they appeared to be just blobs, but soon materialized into definite shapes. Thinking them just a mirage brought on by the heat, Taggs kept running. That is, until a beam of energy lanced out of one of the small shapes and sizzled right past his shoulder. A standard Hunter tactic: a warning shot right past the head to give their prey an idea of the strength they packed, but he knew that if that line of Hunters was composed only of desert-combat squadrons, they were just trying to get him to stand still so he'd be an easier target.

The Reploid was unswayed: he continued to run at a fast pace towards the blockade, and he soon recognized a lot of the shapes: 40 individual Hunters in varying degrees of combat armor, from heavy to light, and a few command; 15 Ride Chasers, patrolling up and down the long line of units; 10 Hawk-model Ride Armors carrying double amounts of ammo; and 4 Sky Chasers hovering up above, ready to descend on the lone Reploid.

"And I didn't even bring them any flowers..." Taggs smirked wryly to himself as another sniper shot sizzled past, grazing his leg armor. They were still trying to incapacitate him rather than outright kill him, but the gold-and-blue armored one knew that if he was captured he'd be executed.

Finally, he got close enough that he could activate his dash thrusters and jump the remaining distance, which is exactly what he did. He sailed through the air, Hunters below him angling their weapons skyward and preparing to open fire. Landing in a Ride Armor right next to the occupant, he grabbed the Reploid by the collar and flung him out before the other Hunters opened fire on the armor. He bailed out as well, just before it exploded and knocked three of his pursuers on their backs. Landing on one knee, he rolled and brought out his Magnum Buster. Taggs prioritized his opponents, first eliminating the nearest Commander, followed by the two nearest heavily-armored Reploids with neat headshots. Rolling again, he changed targets and shot three Medium-armored Hunters in the knee, briefly incapacitating them. Quickly righting himself, Taggs switched for his beam saber and proceeded to cut down all the Reploids around him, including the arm of a Ride Armor when it strayed to close in an attempt to run him down.

A whine filled the air as a group of three Ride Chasers came bearing down on the gold-and-blue armored Reploid. As the first one passed, Taggs sliced the nose off, sending it spiraling into the sand and throwing its rider out. As the second one came by, he jumped and kicked the rider out of his seat and took his place. Making a hard left, he spun the Chaser around and bore down on the third, firing the vehicle's forward mounted plasma gun and causing the other vehicle to spin and explode. With that, he turned once more and drove as fast as possible out of the blockade and onto American soil. As soon as he got out of range of the troops on the ground, the Ride Armors fired a missile salvo at him from behind while all four Sky Chasers dove out of the sky and formed up right behind him. The Reploid was able to swerve to avoid the rockets and the shockwaves from the subsequent detonations, but the Chasers remained on his tail.

Taggs continued to swerve to avoid the plasma shots fired by the Sky Chasers, but couldn't manage to shake them. Popping the Magnum Buster out of its holster, he quickly aimed behind him and let loose rapid-fire volleys on the flying menaces chasing him. One took several directly in the nose and exploded, another was struck in the wing. It pulled out of the chase as heavy black smoke billowed out of a hole in the fuel line. Now only two remained, who continued to shoot down at the Ride Chaser, causing plumes of sand to shoot up out of the ground around it.

Realizing there was only one way to eliminate his pursuers, the gold-and-blue Reploid slammed on the brakes. As he came to a sudden stop the aircraft zoomed overhead. He immediately brought his Magnum Buster up again, and fired off more volleys. One exploded, and the final remaining one suffered an explosion on the side, which forced it into a downward spiral and a nosedive into the sand. It didn't explode, but the pilot climbed out of the wreckage and slumped into the sand; dead or unconscious, Taggs couldn't tell.

With all obstacles out of his way, the Reploid gunned the engine and proceeded towards Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he hoped to find another way of getting to Canada. He had heard it was nice and quiet up there...


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

**New Orleans Maverick Hunter Base, Louisiana; United States of America**

**21:21 March 8th, 2151**

A silver-and-blue armored Reploid, with his helmet adorned with two decorative wings and a wing emblazoned on his left shoulder pawldron, strode through the halls. His face was set in grim determination; his eyes focused only ahead, burning proverbial holes in whoever stood in his way. But instead of push past them, he'd just stand there, making them feel self-conscious until they decided to move. The grey drab halls seemed to stretch on forever, but he finally reached a door.

The Hunter swiped a key card through the appropriate machine hanging next to the door, and punched in a five-digit code. The door hissed open and the Reploid stepped through into a room full of monitors and Reploids currently on call. One of the Operators looked up and snapped a salute.

"Commander Calibur, sir!" he said, remaining at rapt attention. "We have a communications line open with the Main Headquarters right now. X wants to speak with you." Calibur nodded, returning the salute, as the Operations officer scrambled to get the right channel on the main monitor.

Finally, X standing in the Operations Room in New York appeared on the large screen at the front of the room. "Hello, Commander X," the silver-and-blue armored Reploid said.

"Greetings, Commander Calibur," the blue Reploid that was hundreds of miles away replied. "I trust you've read the reports about the events transpiring down in Mexico?"

"Yes, I have," Calibur seemed to turn even grimmer at the mention of it, "And I can't say I like how many units we're losing, especially in order to capture him alive. I've read the profile of these... Eternals; and I can't say that I'd believe the world to be a better place if they were to remain alive."

X didn't seem fazed at all by the comment. "I'm sure you read the profiles about his brothers, correct? Good. And I'm sure you remember Chance, the Eternal who was infected by the Maverick Virus? Well, it seems that he's taken control of a large group of Mavericks. With Sigma's recent and final defeat, it seems that he's taking the opportunity to get a foothold on the world. If he succeeds..."

"...then we'll have another Maverick War on our hands." Calibur sighed and put a hand to his forehead in deep thought. "So where does that leave us as far as the gold guy goes?"

"Our scientists figure that another Eternal could easily stop him," said X, and then stopped, as if considering something. "He was the easiest to find, but... I'm sure that if we found him and explained things to him, he might be able to find some of his brothers to help out as well."

"My biggest concern is that so many potentially infinite power sources in one area could create a problem regarding safety? I mean, Dr. Cain himself noted that they were 'disturbed Reploids'."

"I'm sure they won't be a problem," X said, "I want you to assign some Hunters to accompany him on his mission when you manage to nab him. Now, I have to cut the transmission. I have lots of work to do. X out." The screen went blank, and the Operators returned to their normal tasks. Calibur stood in contemplation before a jet-black, winged figure walked up and stood behind him.

"What are you going to do, sir?" asked Seize.

Shaking his head in response, the commander replied, "I don't know. These Eternals were risky creations in the first place, and why the late Dr. Cain didn't have them dismantled when he could is a mystery. And, unfortunately, X is weak as well: he feels too much compassion."

"Then after the messy business of taking care of this 'Chance' fellow is done with, what shall we do?"

"Terminate all of the Eternals, of course."

"...I see. And what of the Hunters that would accompany them?"

"They would have to be permanently silenced as well, but we can't terminate our own men. Find a mercenary or two, but only after you catch that gold-and-blue Reploid!"

"Yes sir," was the final word that Seize spoke to Calibur that night, and he retreated from the room. Calibur remained a while longer, studying the screens, lost in thought. Finally, he too left the room, bound for his own personal quarters.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

**Albuquerque International Sunport, Albuquerque, NM; United States of America**

**0:04 March 9th, 2151**

Having switched into some civvies, and left his armor in the saddlebags in his new Ride Chaser and set it to remote-activation teleport, Taggs now stood in line waiting for the chance to buy a ticket so he could get the hell out of Dodge. Or, rather, the southwest. Running a hand through his red hair, he looked like any other civilian Reploid in a burgundy leather jacket, a pair of pants, and sneakers. However, under his artificial skin were the mechanical workings of a fully self-aware robot, and a strange power core that could supply him with nigh-infinite power.

He rubbed his eyes wearily and took another step forward as the line advanced. He wasn't physically tired; the Eternal Core made it so that he never could become physically tired. But that didn't stop him from feeling mentally drained. All this business with the Hunters recently... it seemed they had taken a renewed interest in the Eternals. Shortly after the Doppler Incident, which had been yet another Maverick Insurgence triggered by Sigma, the Mavericks had all but died out, and the public felt that the Maverick Hunters were no longer needed. Needing public support to stay operational, the Hunters consulted Cain's personal files without his permission and set about branding all his failed but still living projects as Mavericks. The Eternal Series, Taggs' six other brothers, were at the top of their list. They began a black op to capture them, proclaim them as Maverick Generals, and use the story to gain publicity and more funding.

The op had just barely begun before a real Maverick incident occurred, something called the "Limited virus". It took a while to quell, and it reappeared twice more, but the Hunters had found themselves back in the same position as after Doppler: in desperate need of funding. It seemed like the horrid operation would get resumed, but then the Repliforce went rogue, leading them away from the Eternals once more. And now, Taggs couldn't shake the feeling that the Hunters were starting the operation for a third time, but with Sigma's final defeat, nothing would stop them now.

A headline airing on the TV hanging just above Taggs' head broke his thoughts and caught his attention. Looking up, he listened to the news report: "...with the passing of Dr. Cain comes many questions, most concerning the future of Cain Industries. Artemis Cain, Dr. Cain's son, is reassuring the public that he has every mind to continue his father's work. Meanwhile, funeral preparations are being made in a field outside Cain's home town of Fenton, Michigan. The men, women, and Reploids working on it say that everything is on schedule and funeral events will commence at noon tomorrow..."

He felt his mind buzzing as he tuned out the sounds of the TV and people all around him. _Dr. Cain is... dead? Sure, he wasn't the best father... after all, it's his fault that Bane is dead and Chance is a Maverick, but still, he created us._

"Can I help you, sir?" said a female voice, and Taggs was startled out of his thoughts. He looked around, and realized he had unconsciously moved with the line up to the counter.

"Uh, yeah, I'd like..." he hesitated only for a moment and then made a decision immediately: "I'd like a one-way ticket to Michigan."

"Yes, sir, if you'd please present your ID..." she droned on, leading Taggs through the procedures, but his mind wasn't in the airport: it was already preparing to board the plane and visit his "father's" funeral.

* * *

**Boston, MA; United States of America**

**7:49 March 9th, 2151**

"SHANDOR! Get your lazy ass in here!"

The thin, hawkish Reploid ran into the room, his jet-black hair dripping wet and clinging to his ankles. He wore only pants. "Yes, your highness? What is it?" He spoke in a voice edged with sarcasm and annoyance.

"Help me with my suitcase, will you?" Lafteroth asked, sitting on the top of a brown leather suitcase. "It's been too long since we last used these things. The locks have all rusted over." Shandor grumbled, crossing the room as she hopped off the suitcase, and started to fiddle with the contraptions on the side of the luggage. "While you do that, I think I'll go see if Middy's packed yet," she said, and left the room.

Midnight was in the living room, and as the white-haired Reploid girl walked into the room, he was just putting down the phone. He stood in silence for a few minutes before seeming to notice Lafteroth. He spoke without facing her: "Be sure to pack your armor and weapons. The Hunters have work for us, and one of their representatives will meet with us at the funeral. Tell Shandor to do the same." Without another word, the purple-haired Reploid walked into his own room and shut the door. Shrugging, she walked back into her room, where her other brother was still struggling with the locks.

"Accursed mechanical device!" he cried out and proceeded to futilely beat the suitcase with his hand. Lafteroth walked over and sat on the bed.

"Middy says to bring our stuff," she said, "Apparently the Hunters have work for us."

"Good," the black-haired Reploid said, huffing in frustration, "I was worried this trip would be all black and frowns. A little job with money behind it would certainly spice up the trip. What're the details?"

His sister shook her head. "I don't know. Midnight said something about a representative meeting us at the funeral."

She glanced over at him. "...aren't you done with that suitcase yet?"


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

**Cemetery Field, Fenton, Michigan; United States of America**

**12:35 March 10th, 2151**

"...and so, we look over the life of Doctor Xavier Cain, a hero in his own right, and the father of many heroes..." The priest continued to speak, his voice carrying over the hundreds of Reploids and humans present. It turned out the media had exaggerated a bit: all manner of Reploids were allowed to attend, with no set limit. However, only a few hundred were actually allowed within 100 feet of the coffin. That was by invitation only.

Which meant Taggs was trespassing.

He sat on a hill that was just inside the 100 feet radius overlooking the events just below. He leaned against the single tree and listened to the priest talk, still dressed in his civvies from the other night. The one Reploid who had come to check his invitation was currently unconscious, bound and gagged with both legs broken, hanging upside-down in the highest part of the tree that Taggs could conceal him. He sipped idly at the soda the Reploid had brought with him.

"Funerals," he heard a voice scoff behind him. "So much trouble." Instinct told him to whip around with both weapons drawn, to anticipate any sort of attack. But he recognized the voice, muffled as it was behind a helmet.

"Don't you ever take that armor off?" the red-haired Reploid asked, keeping his eyes scanning over the crowd. Another Reploid in red-and-blue battle armor walked up next to him and took a position similar to Taggs.

"No, he doesn't," another voice said, and another figure was suddenly standing on the other side of Taggs. He wore a suit, and had neatly-combed dust-gray hair. "Not even when he sleeps."

"I feel too vulnerable out of it," the red-and-blue armored Reploid said, "Besides, we don't need to sleep. You know that, Coal."

Taggs could feel the hostility between them. "Tome, back off. Coal, you too." They stayed silent. "This is a funeral. Not just any funeral, but our father's funeral. Show a little compassion, will ya?"

"Yeah, our 'father'," Coal practically spat out the word. "It's his fault that Bane is dead, and Chance is a Maverick. If he hadn't sealed us up, if he had just given us a chance to show that we could be civilized, and not just war machines..." Taggs just nodded in silent agreement. Tome, on the other hand, shook his head.

"I think he was right to lock us up," he said. "The world wasn't ready for our... 'problems'. It _still_ isn't ready. The Hunters' little black op is proof of that."

"You're too naive," Taggs said to his youngest brother, "The Hunters were just randomly lashing out at people. They didn't care who; at the time, we were nothing special."

Tome looked like he was about to say something, but stayed quiet. They remained quiet through most of the service, except for a small conversation that went something like this:

"ACHOO! ...eeew..."

"That's why you shouldn't wear that armor."

"Or at least get rid of the closed helmet."

"Screw you both, okay? You may be older than me, but that's no excuse to make fun of me. We're still brothers."

"Speaking of 'ew', Taggs, what's that hanging up in the tree?"

"What? Where? ...eew..."

"He's the guy who brought me my drink."

"..."

"..."

"...would you guys like me to flag down another one?"

"...nah, I'm good."

"I'm thirsty, but not that thirsty."

* * *

**In the same general area...**

Lafteroth and Midnight sat next to each other, a few rows back from the priest and the coffin. Shandor had gone off to sit elsewhere, in order to attract the attention of the representative that was supposed to give them their mission details. Lafteroth wore a modest black dress with a blood red brooch, and for shoes she wore heels (even though she hated them with a passion greater than the fires of a thousand suns). She had wanted to go with a ponytail, but her hair just wasn't long enough. Midnight, on the other hand, merely wore a black robe and no hat (it would've blocked the view of several rows behind him). Shandor was wearing a new, pressed suit with emerald cufflinks.

Looking around, the female Locke 'bot had recognized two Reploids of distinction in the crowd: one was X, the famous Hunter commander and hero of the world seven times over. The other Reploid was Axl, who was less renowned than X but still well known. Supposedly he was a prototype for some new series, but she didn't know what kind of model would be based off of him. However, she noticed a few differences from the normal armor that the two were always wearing on the news: both had slimmer looking legs and arms, and X looked like he had a new helmet. Axl had heel-pieces on his boots and a slightly more pointed helmet. The two of them sat in the front row, and Lafteroth briefly wondered where Zero was...

Artemis Cain walked up to the altar, and began a eulogy: "We all knew my father, either as a great scientist or leader of the Maverick Hunters. And, indeed, most of the Reploids present today knew him as a father, the same way I did. Through that logic, I know I'm not the only one feeling the pain of losing a truly adored person. My father always set aside time to play with me, to teach me the ways of life, leaving school to teach me the facts. It is because of this that I stand before you the man I am today: I owe it all to you, dad."

A gentle but supportive applause erupted from the crowd. Tears streamed down Artemis' face, but he smiled and stepped down. After that, Lafteroth tuned out the funeral: a feeling of peace had just washed over her. She didn't know what it was, but it felt like someone was watching over her just then, and whoever it was would prevent any harm or sadness from becoming her.

* * *

**Back on the hill...**

As his eyes continued to sweep over the crowd, Taggs found himself continually drawn to a white-haired girl sitting just a few rows back from the coffin, and where Artemis had just given his touching eulogy. In the back of his mind, the red-haired Reploid realized X was now stepping up to the altar, but he didn't care.

"Either of you got a pair of binocs?" he asked.

Coal fished around in his pockets until he withdrew a monocular. "This is all I got. Sorry."

"That'll do," Taggs responded, snatching the device from his brother's hand.

"Why? Do you see danger?" Tome replied, his arm instinctively forming into his buster.

"Not exactly, sneeze boy," the jacketed Reploid said, putting the monocular up against his eye and zooming in. He quickly scanned over the crowd again, and relocated his "target". He could now see that she had the prettiest sapphire eyes and blue eye-streaks. Despite the simplicity of her dress, he still found himself drawn to her form. He allowed a small sigh to escape his lips, and immediately regretted it.

"What was that?" Coal asked, looking around in surprise.

"I dunno," Tome said sarcastically, "Sounded like a love sick sigh to me." Immediately, the red-haired Reploid ripped his gaze from the image in the monocular to his red-and-blue armored brother. The look he gave him could have melted through five feet of Titanium X. "I-I mean!" Tome stuttered, correcting himself, "The wind! Yeah, it was totally the wind..."

"Never mind," Taggs said dejectedly, tossing the monocular back to Coal. "Where are the others?"

Coal caught the device and stored it back in his pocket. "Couldn't make it. Nox, Rook, and Reaper are all still in China. And Chance... well, you know why he's not here." Taggs nodded solemnly.

There was another long interlude of silence, then...

"ACHOO! ...oh, _man!_"

"Heh heh heh..."

"Just take off the helmet, dude."

* * *

**Roughly two hours later...**

The funeral itself had broken up into a small gathering of close personal friends and family of the deceased. However, Lafteroth and Midnight lingered, awaiting their brother's return. The female Locke 'bot fidgeted nervously, fearing bad news, while the purple-haired Reploid just remained impassive. Finally, out of a small crowd of people came Shandor, stumbling a bit and looking like he had just seen a ghost.

"So, brother," Midnight queried, "Do you have the details?"

"Yeah, I have the details, and I can guarantee you're not gonna like it," he said, looking a bit panicked, "Midnight, we have to hunt down an Eternal!"

The robed Reploid seemed to get a shade paler. "You're... kidding, right?"

Shandor shook his head, but Lafteroth cut it. "Wait, an Eternal? What the hell is an Eternal?"

"Didn't you read the Hunter database?" Midnight asked. Lafteroth shook her head, so he sighed and continued, "The Eternal Series was an old and failed experiment of the late Dr. Xavier Cain. Basically, the Eternal Core was a power core that could supply a nigh-infinite amount of energy constantly. Eight Reploid bodies were designed to be prototypes, with each body being a different possibility for structural strengths and weaknesses. But there was a problem: after passing a certain point of energy usage, their minds would begin to deteriorate. It was because of some problem with the energy distribution system, but they would forget who they were and what the difference was between friend and foe, and they became violently insane. Dr. Cain tried to seal them up, but six months later they escaped. During their escape, all Hunters that could be teleported in from around the world were only enough to kill one of them."

The white-haired Reploid's eyebrows shot up. "Really? Wow... do we have to catch them all?"

Shandor shot his sister a withering look. "No, just one in particular. His name is Taggs, that's all they were willing to tell me here. Now, let's drive to the nearest Hunter base, shall we? We'll get fully briefed there, and given enough equipment to handle this assignment. I'll drive." The two male Locke bots started towards the car, but Lafteroth remained a moment longer.

"Taggs, huh?" she mused, then hurried to catch up to her brothers.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**16:15 March 10th, 2151**

When the three Locke siblings had arrived at the base, they were immediately frisked of all weapons and possible recording devices. Lafteroth had to give up her scythe, beam whip, quad-busters, and armor gauntlets. Midnight was relieved of his Mettanium staff, and Shandor's energy sais were taken away and his sniper buster deactivated. The latter was allowed to keep his armor, though, as it was deemed to be purely defensive.

The lobby hadn't been lush like some of the other Hunter bases at all: in fact, the grey drab made it seem more like the military base it actually was, rather than an advanced hotel. Once inside, they were submitted to a series of rigorous examinations and scans. However, they managed to avoid a body cavity search because Midnight had a "talk" with the Hunter in charge of that.

Finally, they found themselves sitting in a cold and uncomfortable briefing room for a few minutes, until a black bird-based Reploid came in. He stood directly in front of them for a good few seconds in silence, giving each a once-over, before starting the briefing.

"Greetings, mercenaries," he introduced himself, "I am Lieutenant 1st-class Seize. I'm sure our representative was vague with the details?" The three Locke 'bots nodded. "Ah, good, then he has done his job. We were only trying to get you enticed, not give away the mission."

Shandor frowned at the Hunter's unprofessional manner, but said nothing as the Lieutenant continued. "I want you to watch this vid, spliced together using the recoverable footage from a Hunter unit's head-cams. This was at the U.S.-Mexican border." He moved aside, and a holoprojector somewhere in the room fired up, creating a holographic image that shifted and followed one Reploid as he tore through a large blockade of Hunters that were armed with heavy armor support. And, despite all opposition, managed to make it away with a Ride Chaser. Shandor and Midnight made note of certain battle tactics that their supposed target was making, choices of posture and opponents; Lafteroth found herself getting lost in the graceful movements that he made, moving smoothly from one Hunter to the next like a liquid. She caught herself a few times, but always managed to slip back into the same state. The white-haired Locke Reploid felt her breath get caught in her chest every time the camera angle switched because the Hunter that was filming was either incapacitated or killed. Once, it switched close to eight times in three seconds.

The clip ended, and all three mercenaries straightened up in their chairs but said nothing. Seize gave them a few moments before walking up to them. "What do you think?" he inquired.

"He definitely knows what he's doing," Midnight started, "Every move he made just seemed to lead into the next one and the next one and so forth. Every attack was linked to another."

Shandor nodded, then threw in his two cents. "And despite overwhelming odds and numerous possibilities, he's quite reliant on his own two weapons. I noticed several times when he could've taken advantage of another's weapons but didn't. He limits himself to a buster and a saber."

"That may be the mistake of a novice," the purple-haired robot piped up once again, "But he handles himself like a professional. It's obvious he's seen years of combat."

The black, raven-like Hunter nodded silently, then looked at Lafteroth. "And you?"

"Hmm? ... oh!" she snapped out of her dream-like state. "Um, yeah, he's definitely experienced. He uses both his beam saber and his buster at the same time, targeting ranged and melee targets simultaneously... I've only seen a few elite Mavericks do that before."

"Oh, this is no Maverick," Seize said matter-of-factly, "This is just an average Reploid that just happens to be exceptionally skilled."

"Bullshit," all three siblings said at once. After looking at each other, Shandor continued to talk. "Your representative informed us that this is an Eternal."

"He did? Then he wasn't as vague as I had hoped." Seize frowned a bit at the comment. "Regardless, here's as detailed a model as we could build, based on the information we have." The holographic video was replaced by a 3d holographic rotating figure. He was remarkably similar to X, especially in his helmet design. It looked like there was an inverted red "hatch" on his chest, which the hologram said was the location of his power core. His armor also closely resembled X's: the pawldrons, leg armor, and wrist guards were the exact same model and color. However, he had less armor on his chest, and only wore a belt instead of the full "crotch-armor" most Reploid warriors wore. The undersuit was gold instead of light blue, and he had red trim on his boots.

The three siblings stood up and examined the model more closely, each taking note of strengths and weaknesses. "From the armor design, it's obvious that he's based on the X-series. Less armor though..." Midnight mused.

"He must be designed for quick close-range combat. How else would you explain his tactics in that vid we watched?" Shandor put in.

Lafteroth circled the hologram itself, reaching out with her hand and allowing a finger to pass through the arm of their target. "According to these readouts, his Magnum Buster plugs straight into his hand and accesses his core. But his beam saber runs on its own power supply."

"Then why does he use it so often?" queried Shandor. "I mean, if his gun has access to his core that means it has infinite power, right? So why doesn't he just use that to decimate his enemies from a distance?"

"It might be an honor thing," commented Midnight. "He's pretty much an elite, no matter what level you put him on. So he might adhere to an honor code, or use a handicap on his enemies because he feels sorry for them?"

"I think it's because, if he did what Shandor said, he'd kill them," Lafteroth broke in, still circling the hologram.

"What on Earth are you talking about, sis?"

She shrugged in response. "Didn't you see him when he was fighting? He aimed for mostly non-lethal places: legs, arms, torsos. Hell, if you recall, death isn't a permanent thing for most Reploids."

Midnight looked like he was about to break in when Seize interrupted. "The young lady seems to have a good grasp on the situation. Let us move on, shall we? I feel you've studied the target well enough: now it's time for you to select weapons. Follow me to the armory, please."

Seize left the room first, leaving a surprised group of Locke siblings. They exchanged questioning glances, but nevertheless followed their CO for this mission. As she left, Lafteroth found her thoughts constantly returning to their target, but unsure why she couldn't get him out of her head.

* * *

**Cain Labs, Michigan; United States of America**

**18:17 March 10th, 2151**

Three armored Reploids stood at the bottom of the west-facing wall of the primary office building, staring up the large surface that was almost flat, save the windows that dotted as indentations in even rows up the side. Of the three, only one wore an open helmet, and his helmet (and his entire armor) was beaten and cracked from many combat situations and overuse.

"If what you say is true," said Coal, dressed in dark grey armor that looked identical to Taggs' with the exception of the helmet, "The Hunters will be coming after us very soon. And when they do, you'll need better armor than _that_ scrap-heap."

The gold-and-blue armored Reploid flipped his brother off. "Shut up. Y'know, some of us were never that good at hiding our asses. We would rather help people out."

"Break it up," said Tome, cutting into their argument. "Now, how are we gonna get up this building?"

"How else? We're gonna climb," said Taggs. "It'll be just like in training down in the caverns."

"Yeah, but without safety equipment, and we're gonna have to latch on to the windows instead of protrusions in the rock," Coal added.

"Won't we get spotted if we do that?" Tome asked, a bit of panic trickling into his voice.

"That's the point," the grey-armored Reploid said, the red gem in the middle of his helmet glistening in the fading sunlight. "We want to get seen so that Artemis knows we're coming. If he doesn't, then we'll have to face security like we did _last_ time we had to break out of here." The three Reploids suddenly went silent as a painful memory resurfaced. It took them a full four seconds before they were able to shake it off.

"Right; let's get going," Taggs said, and made room as Tome jumped up first, latching on to a window and pulling himself up to stand on the sill. There was a woman inside who was just turning towards the window as Tome made the jump to the next window. Taggs came up second and winked at the employee, whose eyes went wide. He made the next jump, and Coal came up last. Seeing the woman, he flipped her off, and continued on to the next window. By the fifth floor, the three of them could see bright red lights flashing as people in armor ran around in a panic. Security cameras were all turned towards the windows, and each Eternal waved as they passed. Finally, they reached the tenth and final floor. Tome, landing first, looked in and saw a lush office with a man in a padded leather chair. He seemed to be ignoring the alarms, totally lost in whatever he was reading. With a swift punch, the red-and-blue armored Reploid smashed through the window, rolling across the floor and snatching the man up from the chair. Next came Taggs, who immediately dashed towards the door and engaged the emergency lockdown mechanism. It would take the guards a few minutes to crack through it, but that should be enough. Finally, Coal came in, buster ready, sweeping the room to ensure no security devices were being activated.

Once all was clear, Tome released the man, who stumbled back into his chair. "W-Who are you people?!" he shouted, clambering over his furniture in an attempt to get to his phone. Coal snatched up the device before he could reach it. "What do you want?!"

"Are you Artemis Cain?" Coal asked darkly, the red gem now glowing in the twilight.

"Y-Yes!" Artemis stammered, backing away but only succeeding in bumping into a bookcase and sending the contents spilling onto the floor.

"Then we have a business proposition," Tome said, leaning on the man's shoulder. "But first, please turn on the lights." Artemis nodded, and clapped his hands twice. Immediately, all the lights in the room lit up, allowing the three brothers to see him in detail. He was about 5' 10" with auburn hair and pale skin. The man was very wiry, looked like he didn't care for physical fitness very much, and was wearing a blue robe with red and gold trim.

However, because they could see him, he could now see them, and he yelped in fright. "What's your offer?? Please don't kill me!"

Coal smirked under his helmet, but Artemis couldn't tell. "Oh, we just want you to make new armor for him," he said, gesturing towards Taggs, who was now walking over from the door. "If you couldn't tell, our brother Taggs needs some new equipment. His got pretty damaged constantly running from the Hunters."

At the mention of the name, Artemis' face transformed from fear to curiosity. "Taggs? That names sounds familiar... tell me, what series are you?"

The three brothers exchanged glances before Taggs spoke up. "We're from the Eternal series."

Now the man's face lit up. "Eternal? You're my father's Eternal series?" He seemed absolutely giddy. "Well, why didn't you just say so in the first place? Make yourselves at home!" As the brothers once again exchanged glances, Artemis practically skipped over to the intercom by the door. Punching it, he said, "Mary-Ann, tell security to cancel that alert." Not even listening for a response, he righted his chair, pushed a few papers off his desk, and sat down. Picking up a book, he flipped through the pages.

"Yes, I know you," he continued. "I read all about you in my father's personal logs. Ah, here we go! He really was fond of you, as he is all his Reploids. But you were definitely something special to him. In fact, in this entry right here, he says something about 'feeling awful for what I have to do, for it feels like I am betraying some large part of me by sealing these lads up.'" He closed the journal and looked up at them. "So, a new set of armor, eh? I think that can be arranged. Please, follow me." Artemis stood up, smoothed out his robe, and walked towards the door. The brothers followed, each one reeling from the entry he had just read them.

_Did... did he really care that much?_ The three brothers thought as Artemis opened the doors... into a hall full of guards.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

**Cain Labs, Michigan; United States of America**

**18:25 March 10th, 2151**

All the guards in the hallway quickly reacted, leveling busters at the group coming out of the room. However, they all hesitated when they saw Artemis Cain up front, and the others standing casually behind him. Artemis quickly dismissed the situation with a wave of his hand.

"No need for your weapons," he said, as if annoyed by their mere presence, "They're friends. I'm just going to give them a brief tour of the facilities before I give one an armor upgrade." None of the guards moved. "Did you not hear me? Do you have silicon in your ears? I said put down your weapons!" The guards all looked at each other, obviously confused.

"But sir... we've confirmed their identities," one of the nearest to Artemis said. "They're... they're..."

"YES! I know!" Artemis screamed at him. "I'm not STUPID! Now put down your weapons before I reconfigure your cores manually _without using gloves!_" The security guards lowered their weapons reluctantly and sulked off, a few giving the three brothers dirty looks as they left. The Eternals remained impassive to the glares: they had received much worse in the course of their lives, and knew they were due for more.

"Come on, I want to show you the factory," Artemis continued, leading the three down the hall and to an elevator. They rode it to the ground floor and walked outside through the lobby. After catching a surprised stare or two from the secretaries, they walked in the moon-lit night towards a large building. Rows of windows dotted the top of the building, but the area close to the ground was completely featureless, save for a small side entrance and a large truck door. Quick flickers of light could be seen flashing within as the group neared it.

Artemis pushed the door open and the four proceeded inside. The entire building was one room, with some areas separated by 10 foot high walls. Unfinished Reploid bodies stood or sat on conveyor belts, the robotic arms that assembled the pieces quiet, as the Reploid factory had been shut down for the day for Dr. Cain's funeral. A few still operated on complete Reploids that were in for repairs, though. Artemis led them through a maze of boxes, machines, and belts before they reached a small area that was walled off. Inside, blueprints were strewn out, spare parts littered the floor and any table or flat surface, and the only sources of illumination were a single vid screen and a light that hung overhead. The auburn-haired man pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed one of several buttons on it, causing the screen to jump to life.

"This," Artemis began, gesturing to the image that appeared on the screen, "Is the newest model of armor. I call it NextGen. Note the sleeker leg and arm units, the smoother texture, the complete redesign options available... and I'll give the basic package to you on me."

Taggs, who was previously staring at the screen in wonder, snapped his head up. "What? For free? You gotta be kidding me."

"Yeah, there's always a catch," Coal snapped. "So, Artemis, tell us what it is. We don't mind paying for the armor if you're gonna have us kill someone for you."

"No! No! Nothing like that!" Artemis said in a panicked voice. "I'm serious. My father loved his Reploids, and it's also company policy to give our units a complete overhaul every now and then. Taggs here is way overdue, and what we owe him is probably close to the price of getting completely new armor. Anything else will cost you, though."

"Alright, fine by me," Taggs said, and began to remove his armor. When he was down to just his golden jumpsuit, he handed the cracked and broken armor over to Artemis, who set each piece down on a table.

Artemis hummed to himself as he looked at each piece individually. "The chest piece is the most salvageable... I can recycle a few parts from the arm and leg units... but the helmet," he picked up the head-gear, tapping it questioningly with a finger. As soon as he did so, there was a loud crack, and a large piece of it fell off and hit the floor with a _clunk!_ "Umm... the helmet is completely toast, I'm afraid. I'll have to do a complete redesign." He dumped all the armor into a bin. "Now, before I begin, is there anything in particular you want done with it?"

"No, keep it the same color. You can add a few fancy things if you feel so inclined," Taggs shrugged.

"Aw, come on, bro," Tome elbowed him in the side. "Those colors are ugly. Go for something new, something exciting!"

"I happen to _like_ those 'ugly' colors," Taggs snapped. "Keep the colors, doc."

"Like hell!" Coal chimed in. "Artemis, change the blue to black, but keep the gold."

"FINE! Whatever!" Taggs threw up his hands in defeat. "You guys help design the armor. Now, I feel a little tired right now. Is there a place I can crash?" Because of the Eternal Core, none of the Eternals actually needed to sleep in the physical sense: their cores kept them up and running at all times. But the same couldn't be said of their minds and emotions: if feeling drained mentally, they could take quick naps and be fully recharged within a few hours.

"There are guest rooms over in the western building complex," Artemis said over his shoulder, barely bothering to look up from a sheet of blueprint paper and a pen. "There should be a secretary on duty. Tell her I said it was okay, and she'll lead you to a room. Good night."

Taggs nodded, waved good night to his brothers and Artemis, and started towards said complex. As he stepped outside, he felt a chill run up his spine. When he wasn't wearing his armor, the world seemed much colder all of a sudden...

* * *

**Cain Labs, Building Complex W, Michigan; United States of America**

**18:54 March 10th, 2151**

"GOD! You women take _hours_ getting ready!" Shandor practically screamed as they crept up the side of a rocky hill. He wore slightly heavier armor over his usual armor, clutching a high-energy rifle in his hand and a grenade launcher slung over his back. Beside him crawled Midnight, with no extra armor or weapons, but a slight glow surrounding him. Behind each of them was Lafteroth, with less armor than before, wearing instead a stealth suit with a high-grade stun weapon and her normal energy scythe.

"Oh, quit your whining," the female Locke said, brushing a strand of white hair from her eyes. "You have no idea what it's like. It was akin to being a kid in a china store... or however that old proverb goes." She shrugged. Midnight opened his mouth to correct her, but decided against it.

"We're coming up on the target," the purple-robed Reploid said instead. The glow around him brightened for a second, then died down. "I sense him... Complex W, building 3. Laf, you've got the stealth suit, you go retrieve him..." Suddenly, in mid sentence, he stopped. He stopped moving, and just froze in place. Lafteroth nearly bumped into him.

"What's wrong?" Shandor hissed, looking around and bringing up his rifle.

"...there are more."

"WHAT?!"

"Keep your voices down!" Lafteroth told them. "Now, more _what?_"

Midnight shook his head, though out of frustration or fear she couldn't tell. "More Eternals... in this very area; two more, to be precise. Laf, you have to be careful! Don't let them know you're there; all the Eternals are fiercely protective of their siblings." The white-haired Reploid nodded, and raced ahead of the rest of them. As she got to the crest of the hill, she looked around, and saw a building with a large "W-3" painted on the side. She noted that, to reach the building, it was a long run across open terrain. But, upon further inspection, it looked like there was nobody around, nor any security devices that could stop her. So she sprinted the hundreds of yards from the perimeter to the building and then threw herself up against the wall.

Keying a COM system in her ear, she whispered, "Okay, how am I doing?"

"You're doing great, kid," Shandor replied. "Midnight says our boy's on the third floor, and there's an air duct close to you that'll get you there."

"An air duct? How cliché," she smirked. "Alright, I'll contact you when I find him." She clicked the COM off, then looked around for the duct he mentioned. She found it, pressed into the side of the building, and the vent was bolted in place. In one smooth motion, she pulled out her scythe, activated it, and swung. It cut a neat swath through the metal, leaving her a nice hole to slip through. Inside, however, she found it to be cramped, and she couldn't return her scythe to its sling on her back. Forced to carry it by hand, she steadily crawled through the vent system. Twice she ran into a vertical section, but a quick burst from her dash thrusters sent her up to the next floor. After what seemed like hours of crawling and looking through small vents in people's rooms, she found her target: a Reploid in a golden jumpsuit lying down in bed, his fire-red hair splayed out on his pillow. Carefully and silently removing the vent cover, she climbed out into his room...

Taggs became dimly aware, in his slumber, of a trespasser, someone nearby who didn't belong. Many people might have dismissed such a feeling as part of their dreams, but the Reploid knew better by now. In a quick movement, he rolled over in bed, snatching up his Magnum Buster from its holster and pointed it at the intruder. He opened his eyes... and found himself staring into the most beautiful pair of eyes he had ever seen in his life.

He felt disarmed, vulnerable... but he didn't care. As long as he was lost in those pools of exquisiteness, he was safe. After a moment, however, he found himself able to speak.

"Hi," he said softly.

"Hi," she replied, equally charmed by him. They stood there motionless for a good two minutes, just staring at each other, completely at ease and content. Suddenly, she started, and came out of her daze. Her eyes hardened, and the deactivated beam scythe in her hand that he had failed to notice came up and clocked him on the side of the head. As darkness seized him, he still couldn't forget her eyes, couldn't get them out of his head. And as he passed out, he smiled in comfort.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

**Cain Labs, Building Complex W, Michigan; United States of America**

**18:57 March 10th, 2151**

As Shandor listened intently to the COM, awaiting the confirmation code from Lafteroth, Midnight couldn't shake the chills running up and down his spine. More Eternals... more trouble. So far, they didn't seem aware of the attack, or of their brother's peril. Which was good in his book, but he knew the stories... that all the Eternals had some kind of psychic communication. Despite his lack of believing in some way of communicating that wasn't vocal or mechanical, he never could shake the horrifying thought from his mind.

Suddenly, Shandor nodded and clapped. "She's got 'im!"

The purple-robed Reploid held out his hand. "Lemme talk to her." Shandor took a small oval device out of his ear and gave it to Midnight, who inserted it. "Lafteroth, you really did get him?"

"Yeah..." she replied, but her voice sounded a little shaky. "I just didn't expect... _that..._"

"Expect what? Did he put up a fight?"

"No. Well, not exactly, but--"

"Wait... I'm detecting movement..." he reached out with his ESP again, feeling and searching, before coming to a horrible realization. "Lafteroth, get of there NOW!"

"What? What's going--"

"MOVE IT!" He ripped the device out of his ear and gave it back to a confused Shandor. "Get ready, brother: the other Eternals know..." Before the black-haired Reploid could reply, there was a rustling in a row of hedges roughly 10 yards away. He wheeled on the plants, bring up his rifle and training it on the approximate area.

"Sense it," he whispered to Midnight. However, just as the robed Reploid began to search with his mind, a dark blur erupted forth from the bush. It moved with lightning speed, and in just under a second was in front of the two Locke brothers. The red-and-blue armored Reploid brought up his boot and struck Midnight in the chin, sending him tumbling back. Then it backhanded Shandor with the strength of a city bus smashing into the Locke 'bot, knocking him off his feet. A grey blur came a moment later and was soon standing beside him.

"Are they disabled?" Coal asked, his arm formed into his buster.

"Yeah, they're--" Tome never finished the sentence as a sudden glow surrounded his body. His eyes, looking around in confusion, finally settled on an equal glow emanating from Midnight, just before he was hurled through the air by an unseen force, landing several yards away. Coal turned and fired, but the shot dissipated in mid-air. Suddenly, Shandor was back on his feet, the rifle blazing. A few shots struck the Eternal about his chest but didn't seem to do any serious damage. The grey-armored Reploid's other arm formed into a buster, both firing at separate targets. Midnight caused them to go flying off course while Shandor seemed to just dodge and absorb the attacks. Quickly realizing he was out-matched, Coal began to feed power from his core into the rest of his body.

_About 300 percent should do..._ he thought, and cut off the sudden rush of power at the appropriate level. Then he sprang into action. Thinking quickly, he knew that Shandor was more likely of a target, so he engaged his dash thrusters and rushed the black-haired Reploid. Just as Shandor began to pull out his orange beam sais to take a few swings at Coal, the grey-armored Reploid jumped over his target. Landing behind him, the Eternal swung back with his elbow, striking Shandor at the base of the skull. While that would have been fatal to a human, it only hurt really badly with a Reploid.

Shandor let out a guttural growl and turned to face his assailant, but caught a fist in the face when he tried. Stumbling back, he felt his legs get swept out from under him with a scissor kick, and he landed flat on his back. Glaring daggers at Coal through his feral yellow eyes, he brought up his beam sais to block any other attack... only to find that one of them was gone. Looking about frantically, he noticed Coal stand over him, clutching the glowing beam weapon in his hand. Shandor couldn't see the twisted grimace behind the closed helmet, but the Reploid's eyes looked down at him with disdain and, in a small way, pity. With a slight pull-back, Coal brought the weapon down...

...but he was stopped, as a crackling purple field surrounded his hand and quickly encircled his entire body. His eyes shifted and saw Midnight back up on his feet, clutching his staff and projecting the damned aura. "I will enjoy ripping you apart down to your cursed core!" he screamed, and Coal felt a great amount of pressure on his body that increased with every passing second until it felt like he was going to be smashed into a little cube of steel... then it reversed, pulling his form outwards until he thought that he was going to have every limb and appendage torn from his torso. Finally, it seemed to stop, and then it got to its worst: it felt like every molecule in his body wanted to go in a different direction, and they were trying their hardest to realize that wish.

He was helpless to the forces that bound him... or, rather, that were doing the exact opposite. Just as he was about to despair, he received a burst transmission:

**PUSH THE ENVELOPE.**

Coal recognized the code: it was a signal, from one Eternal to another, telling them to pass the 400 marker. For an instant, he questioned his brother's judgment: to do that would be to abandon the sharp edges that defined barbarianism from humanity, ally from enemy... then he felt the searing pain one only felt when his shoulder is about to be wrenched free from it's socket, and thought to himself: _Yeah, he's on the mark for this one._

The core safeties clicked off, and power flowed freely through the grey-armored Reploid's "veins". He stopped the swell at about 460, and he no longer saw shades of being, no black and white; only grey. He no longer knew the difference between a friend and a foe, who deserved to be attacked and who didn't. But, after only a moment, he knew the guy who was trying to rip him apart was definitely somebody who needed to be attacked.

Suddenly, a red-and-blue blur flashed past him and smashed into Midnight, breaking his concentration and causing him to drop Coal. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the grey-armored Reploid realized that the person who helped him was his brother, but for now all he knew was that he was helping out. As his feet touched the ground, a blast hit him in the back. Turning around with a snarl, he saw Shandor with his arm formed into a smoking buster. Coal lunged, pinning Shandor down, but the black-haired Reploid swung up with a beam sai, making Coal roll off in order to avoid the dangerous weapon. Righting himself, Shandor swung his left fist and struck the grey-armored Reploid in the side of the helmet. Recovering quickly, he dove under his opponents legs and grabbed Shandor's long black hair, yanking it as hard as possible.

Meanwhile, Tome struggled against Midnight, dodging psychic blasts. Somehow he had managed to shake the Locke 'bot enough that he couldn't just form fields wherever he wanted, which brought his advantage down by a lot. His own arm already formed into a buster, the red-and-blue armored Reploid fired vainly at his robed foe but all his shots were ultimately blocked by a telekinetic barrier. Realizing that his current tactics weren't working, he dashed forward, bum-rushing the enemy. However, he smashed painfully into the barrier, yet didn't allow himself to get knocked back a single inch. Instead, he kept pushing, even charging his buster and using that to try and burn through the invisible wall. After a moment of agonizing struggling, he felt it give way, and swung wide with a right hook, catching Midnight in the jaw and sending him tumbling back. Tome was quickly standing over him, buster pointed down, fully charged and waiting to be fired. But in a flash of determination, the purple-haired Locke used all the psychic power he could muster to push Tome straight up into the air.

At the same time, Coal was kicked high by Shandor and sent flying. The two brothers recovered in mid-air but continued on their trajectories. As they passed each other in the sky, they exchanged high-fives before exchanging targets: Coal fought against the robed "magician" Midnight, while Tome beat on the raven-haired Shandor. Both fights seemed equal, yet the Eternals weren't wearing out: their cores saw to that. Despite the injuries they suffered, a broken servo in Tome's left arm, a couple shattered cybernetic ribs in Coal's chest, they continued to fight with the same enthusiasm as when the fight started. Midnight was getting tired from using all his energy and Shandor couldn't keep up the fight due to a broken right wrist.

Just as it seemed the Locke 'bots would give in and fall, two shots rang out. The Eternals froze and collapsed, their eyes rolling into the backs of their heads, small blue sparks fleeting over their forms as they lay on the ground. The white-haired Lafteroth stood nearby, a smoking gun in one hand and a limp Taggs thrown over the other shoulder.

She smiled widely. "Man guys, you obviously didn't have the same first experience as I did. Looks like you did things the hard way." Midnight, despite resisting, couldn't help but crack a smile, while Shandor just flipped his sister off and struggled to his feet. He pulled a scuffed and slightly-damaged device from his pocket, winced as he used the wrong wrist, switched hands, and pressed a small blue button on the remote. A minute passed, and a helicopter began to descend from the night sky. As its skids touched down on the ground, Lafteroth first picked up the three Eternals and roughly dumped them into the bay. Then she returned and helped her brothers get into the chopper and from there into some seats. After Midnight and Shandor had been buckled in, she poked her head into the cockpit and gave the pilot a thumbs-up. Returning the gesture, the pilot pulled back on a lever, and the helicopter rose into the sky.

Its next stop: Maverick Hunter HQ.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

**Maverick Hunter Outpost, Indianapolis, Indiana; United States of America**

**00:01 March 11th, 2151**

Lafteroth couldn't help but grunt in frustration as she stood on the tarmac of the airstrip in nothing but a skintight stealth suit and a leather jacket she had found along with her target. She sipped at a cup of coffee and watched as the cargo from their one chopper was transferred into four others: one was a medical chopper for her brothers, since they were in very piss-poor condition. But she knew they'd pull through with just a little bit of regenerating metal for their ARNs. A second was a medium-security chopper for the two extra targets they had "acquired", due to their highly-stunned state. The techs said that not even their Eternal Cores could shake off that degree of damage without over 10 more hours of sleep. The third was a command copter that she would ride in and keep tabs on the other three. After all, since she was the last one standing, it was technically _her_ op.

The fourth helicopter was a special order: double-maximum security. It had enough fuel to fly around the world five times in case the target kept getting switched around, enough weapons on it to blast the former Eurasia colony into rubble (had it still been in one piece), and enough armor to take a blast from the Enigma Cannon and still keep its cargo in roughly one piece, give or take a finger or toe. This was for her target, Taggs Eternal. The techs hadn't even wanted to touch him since he seemed to stir in his sleep when they approached. Even the Hawk Ride Armors kept their distance, so the white-haired Locke girl had to strap him in herself. It was a very secure holding: a large bay, like all the choppers had, except it was closed with two heavy, solid Titanium-X doors, and a strange blockish device towards the rear. The device was a holding "pen", basically foot-thick plates of the same metal that composed the doors fitted around the captured target's body with the exception of the head. A magnetic lock was also in place, binding Taggs' limbs in a sort of stasis, even if he woke up. His core was as paralyzed at the lowest level possible, which was unfortunately at 100 for the Eternal. Considerably weak compared to the Eternals' normal levels, but still no picnic. Two guards decked out in maximum battle armor stood on the other side of the bay, guarding the reinforced door leading into the cockpit. The containment device was supposed to hold, but instead of paying attention to the door, their rifles were aimed at the sleeping form of Taggs trapped within the titanium prison. They wouldn't let their guard down for a second.

Finally, a greasy looking tech jogged up to Lafteroth, cleaning his hands with a rag. "The 'copters are ready, ma'am," he said without saluting. "Everyone's secure and awaiting your orders to lift off."

"Thank you, Private...?" Her voice trailed off, as she didn't know his name.

The tech smiled back, looking quite friendly. "Milan," he finished.

She nodded and walked to her own copter. Climbing into the bay, she pressed a button that signaled the pilot. Immediately, her chopper lifted off into the air, momentarily followed by the other three, and they pressed forward towards the Maverick Hunter Headquarters, located in scenic New York City.

* * *

**United States Airspace, somewhere over Ohio**

**01:59 March 11th, 2151**

The Maverick Hunter helicopters moved almost silently through the slight sheet of rain. It seemed that the weather was gradually getting worse, but the pilots weren't fazed by that: they only wanted to get their chopper to the destination as fast as possible. In the bay of the double-max security chopper, however, the two guards were on full alert. A pot of coffee had been set up for them, but neither had been brave enough to move from their positions to get a cup or two. They each stood at rapt attention, their rifles pointed at the darkness where they knew the incapacitated Eternal to be. Only a couple of red lights behind the guards illuminated the area, which gave the inside of the helicopter an all-too horror movie feel.

Each was sweating bullets as well. They could hardly see beyond the dim glow of the bay lights, and only then could they see a faint outline. But it hadn't moved since the Reploid fugitive had been loaded onboard. Then again, this one was supposed to be a tricky one...

Suddenly, a calm voice started talking to them from the darkness. "You Hunters should learn to relax. You barely moved since we took off. And you're fear... I can almost hear it..." The two quailed but stood their positions, bringing up their guns. "Oh, but you don't have to be afraid. I'm quite helpless like this. Plus, that beautiful maiden that captured me... she's left me quite disarmed." They still didn't lower their rifles. "Come now, you can't honestly expect me to break out of this thing. Unless, of course, you forgot to overestimate my capabilities... like allowing my mouth to be able to move..." Suddenly, an ear-splitting, shearing sound exploded within the bay. The wrenching of metal was so loud, so horrible of a noise that the guards were forced to finally move their hands to cover their ears. In a moment, however, it stopped. They saw a slight movement of the outline, coming closer until the shape was just visible within the eerie red light.

Both Hunters punctually soiled themselves. Standing at the edge of the light was the target, Taggs Eternal, with a big chunk of Titanium-X hanging out of his mouth. He calmly removed it, then ran his tongue over his teeth. "Quite sturdy, almost as strong as X's," he continued nonchalantly. "Then again, I nearly broke the twerp in half when I met him. He put up a good fight though. Better than this contraption, anyway." He tossed the large piece of metal to the floor, where it bounced and the guards saw clearly that, embedded within, was the central magnetic field generator. They could hardly believe it: he had ripped out the heart of the machine with his _teeth!_ Their eyes slowly followed his form upward until they again rested on his face, which was smiling mercilessly. He wore only a golden jumpsuit, but they knew that was enough protection.

"Wondering if I'm going to spare you?" he asked in mock concern. "Well, stop wondering and find out!" The guards reacted more quickly than Taggs gave them credit for: their heavy rifles immediately opened up, firing bright blue fluorescent charges that screamed towards him. But he moved quickly as well, and was able to dodge, the blasts instead impacting the rear of the bay. They hardly left a scorch in the wall. Moving almost too fast for their vision to follow, Taggs raced forward and snatched up one guard by the throat. He quickly crushed it, once again cutting off the power from the brain to the core and shutting down another Reploid. He snatched up the Hunter's rifle and blew the head off the second, not bothering to mess around with banter or toying. Letting the body in his grip drop and watching the other fall, he knew that this wasn't the end of them: the neck could be fixed, and the AI was backed up in the core of the Reploid every five seconds. However, he knew what would end them.

Boosting his core up to 450, Taggs gripped the floor and wrenched a large panel free. Inside he saw a large fuel and coolant line. Nodding in satisfaction, he walked the two feet to the bay door, gripped it by the handle, and yanked it free of its hinges. Air and rain rushed in, howling in his ears, but he didn't care. He let go, the door plummeting towards the ground, then observed the scene outside: the helicopters were all in a vertical diamond formation, with Taggs' on top. He noted that another helicopter was flying not too far away. He turned and walked to the opposite side of the bay. First, he brought up his newly acquired rifle and shot the fuel line, which quickly glowed a bright, eye-searing orange. He then rushed across the bay and leapt out of the gaping doorframe. As he just exited the chopper, the fuel line bulged and burst, an inferno quickly engulfing the vehicle and turning it into so much dust and scrap in the wind. He sailed through the air, the rain parting before his airborne form due to the aerodynamics of his artificially smoothed jumpsuit. Less than a second later, he impacted the other helicopter and was able to find a hand-hold. Swinging outward, he brought his feet forward in the return swing and crashed straight through the weaker armored hull. Inside were two more guards who barely had time to turn and see what was going on before each got a blast through their guts. As each collapsed, the golden-clad Eternal glanced around and noted that this chopper was filled with communications and command equipment. He began searching for another floor panel similar to the one he had ripped up to find the fuel line. He figured if he could destroy all the helicopters except for the ones with his brothers in it, then they could get away...

"HEY!" A distinctly feminine voice rang out, and Taggs whipped around with his rifle up and ready to gun down the interloper... when he saw it was the white-haired girl again. He fought the coming weakness, but found it easier to do than last time. He figured that being beyond the 400 mark must have had something to do with it, but... there was something peculiar about this girl. His state of mind made objectives very fuzzy, almost without detail, just a field of greys with the occasional obvious foe. But this white-haired Reploid girl... she was crystal clear.

He shook his head to dispel the distracting thoughts. "I fell for your charms once, pretty-eyes," he said, adopting a fighting stance. "But I'm not going to be so easily distracted again." To Lafteroth's surprise, he dropped the rifle and kicked it to the edge of the bay, looking about ready for a melee fight. She nodded and brought up her own two fists, waiting for him to make the first move, a choice he was only too happy to oblige. His first foot stepped forward and, with great strength, propelled him through the air towards Lafteroth. However, he lashed out with his second foot, completely abandoning his previous fist-fight look. The limb caught her by surprise and right in the chin, sending her spinning and crashing up against a wall. The female Reploid, while looking shocked, neatly slid down the wall and back on her feet followed rushing in and delivering three punches into Taggs' jaw. He stumbled back a bit but quickly regained his footing and also began throwing punches. The two stood their ground, blocking and throwing and occasionally receiving punishment, yet throughout it they were both smiling.

Finally, however, Lafteroth made a mistake that left her right side far too open, and Taggs took immediate advantage. Ducking under one blow he moved up, almost as if to uppercut her. Instead, his arm went around her waist and pulled her body closer to his. As soon as his head came up level with hers he leaned forward and took her in a kiss. At first, her eyes went wide in surprise. But her eyelids fluttered close as she gave herself into the embrace. They stood kissing for a few moments before Lafteroth's senses lost the daze and she began planning on a way to take advantage of his weakness. Maybe if she slowly and gently moved her hand up to his temple, she could... wait, where was _his_ other hand?

The answer came unexpectedly as a sharp pain snapped through the back of her head. It quickly numbed and turned to blackness as Taggs' karate chop caused her to lose consciousness. He quickly caught the white-haired girl's falling form and laid it to the ground gently. He remained there for a moment, looking over the unconscious body, just pondering its beauty... followed by a revolting thought to which he gagged aloud.

"I'm not that sadistic," he sneered at himself before retrieving his rifle and walking up into the cockpit. One blast later, the co-pilot was dead and the other pilot "convinced" to land the chopper on the ground, tell the other pilots to do the same, and for all of them to follow the gold-clad Reploid's orders.

* * *

**New Orleans Maverick Hunter Base, Louisiana; United States of America**

**02:06 March 11th, 2151**

Calibur was lying in bed, happily reading a novel. The title was _Something Wicked This Way Comes_, and the commander found himself oddly delighted reading it. It was quite an old book, and most Reploids would just download a copy directly to their brain from the Network, but the sky-blue haired Reploid found the tactile sensation of actually reading it to be infinitely more... pleasant.

Suddenly, Seize burst in panting hard with sweat dripping down his beaked face. Calibur looked up just as his second-in-command took a gasp of air and began to speak: "Commander Calibur, sir! Taggs Eternal has hijacked the helicopters inbound from Michigan! He's forced them to land and is now demanding that you come and face him yourself." He paused as the effect of what he had just said sank in, using the time to catch his breath.

Calibur growled and practically crushed the book in his hand. "That bastard... get the unit ready, we're going out to meet him!" The commander flung the blankets off himself and walked over to a door-sized sealed panel on the other side of the room. Pressing a hidden switch, the covering slid open and yielded its contents: silver and blue combat-flight armor. As the Hunter donned the armor, he muttered curses under his breath:

"I'm sure that we can find other Eternals... X might not like it, but perhaps we can find another one... 'cause I'm gonna kill him..."


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

**Secluded Field, Ohio; United States of America**

**02:11 March 11th, 2151**

Taggs stood out in the grassy field, rain falling steadily from the heavens and splashing on everything. It made slightly metallic noises as drops pinged off the hulls of the three landed helicopters. He specifically heard the sounds coming from the chopper behind him, the emergency medical one. The pilots and guards of the other helicopters had been rounded up, bound by a steel wire, and dumped on their butts under the rain. The unconscious Eternals had been tenderly lain out in the grass, also in the rain: the gold-clad Reploid had hoped the cold moisture would help resuscitate them. However, the white-haired girl... he had felt obligated to treat her special. He had placed her unconscious form inside the helicopter behind him (where he could find room between the advanced medical equipment), and draped a liberated blanket over her. The air had gotten chilly, and all she was wearing was a thin stealth suit that was not meant to trap heat. And her... dignity had been compromised by that fact.

The Reploid's ears perked up, as he managed to pick up a faint sound amid the splashing and splattering of water all around him. It was a faint whirring sound... a turbine. A pinpoint of light appeared in the sky above him, followed by three more, and finally a silver-and-blue armored Reploid descended from the sky, a built-in flight pack jutting out of his back. Taggs recognized the scowl on his face: a look of pure contempt.

"It's nice to see you too, Calibur," the gold-clad Eternal said. His toes wriggled slightly in the cold: all he was wearing was a jumpsuit. No boots, no gloves, and no armor whatsoever... suddenly, the prospect of going toe-to-toe with a fully-armed Hunter didn't seem like such an attractive idea.

Calibur, however, just sneered at the Reploid's obvious lack of comfort as the three shapes of his squad floated down behind him. "Hello, Taggs. I'm sure you remember my team?"

Taggs' temper suddenly flared back up. "Yeah, because of those bastards, I ended up in a 'reform' prison for nine months. And let me tell you, there's nothing reforming about those damn prisons! Especially when they're maximum security."

"How droll."

"Cut the crap. Listen, all you Hunters have been pretty non-lethal with me and my brothers this time around, which definitely caught me off guard. Now, I want you to tell me crystal clear what the hell you want with us. So help me, if you're just toying with us..."

The Hunter frowned. "Oh no, we have a purpose for you and your vile brethren. We want you to kill one of your own."

The red-headed Eternal fell silent. "...Chance, right?"

"Hit the nail on the head."

Taggs' sharp blue eyes with gold flecks sharpened and focused their intent stare on Calibur. He mouthed the word twice before sound actually ventured forth: "No." His voice dripped with such conviction that the Hunter felt like he might be knocked over by the sheer will behind it. Suddenly, it was as if a pot had boiled over: all the seething anger that had been slowly simmering underneath exploded outward.

"Look past your own god damn nose for once, Taggs!" Calibur found himself shouting. "Your brother is a dangerous Reploid, with the power of an Eternal and the insanity granted by the Maverick virus! With Sigma gone, he's seeing his own chance to rise to the tops of the Maverick ranks and bring them out of their slump. We cannot afford another Maverick War. If you could only wrap your tiny little mind around such a thing!"

"Why is it that every time there's a world-ending crisis that the Hunters can't handle, you turn to us?!" Taggs shot back. "I remember this same 'we need your help badly' speech back when Eurasia was crashing into Earth, and you asked us to help rescue people and get them below ground! As I recall, we were to be granted amnesty after that, and we never received it."

"We said we'd _try_ to get your crimes pardoned in exchange for helping us! And this isn't something as simple as a space colony falling into Earth's atmosphere. When that happened, as long as we got the humans below ground into the subterranean cities, we were able to survive. Now we're facing a possible Maverick uprising, with your brother as the leader!"

"_It's your own fucking fault he's like that in the first place!_" Taggs screamed at the top of his lungs. "If it wasn't for the Hunter's oppressive policies, Bane never would have been murdered by X and the rest of the Hunters! And Chance wouldn't have been so distraught that he'd seek out power for vengeance! Face it: you asked for this, and now you're going to get it."

Flame fired up in Calibur's eyes. In a swift motion, his buster was activated, pointed at the gold-clad Eternal, and charging. Taggs adopted a melee stance, getting ready to dodge and try to punch the Hunter in the face. However, before either could make a move, a surprisingly clear voice rang out: "Stop!"

Both turned to see Lafteroth standing up in the wet grass, blanket wrapped around herself for warmth. Her hard, emerald eyes bore holes in both of them, incapacitating their wills to fight. All the Hunters behind Calibur involuntarily took a step back, but the commander stood his ground, scowling inwardly at the cowardice of his troops. Taggs, however, just stood there because he was mesmerized by the unseen rage within her.

"Is that all you boys think about? Killing each other?" she commented dryly, walking up to the two of them. She was about a hair shorter than Taggs, and a full head shorter than Calibur. "Why don't you both sit down and shut the hell up! God, you're giving me a headache..." Both of them hesitated, not wanting to sit down in the wet grass, but following another glare of hers they both immediately dropped to the ground.

Calibur immediately opened up and started shouting. "Taggs won't do it! He won't help us end the threat before it gets out of hand!"

"What are you, five?!" Taggs shot back. "Okay, so she sits us down like kindergarteners, but that doesn't mean you get to tell on me!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Lafteroth finally snapped, and both men settled down and kept quiet. "Now then..." Her composure regained, she flipped a strand of long, wet, white hair out of her eyes and looked at Taggs. "You know why we're concerned, right? If your brother turns into the next Sigma, it'll probably turn out worse than the big-S; from what I've figured out, Eternal Cores are extremely unstable and dangerous."

"You don't have to tell _me_," the gold-clad Reploid mumbled.

"See?! Even she agrees with me!" Calibur said gaily, clapping his hands together. "Now, either go along with the plan, or I have authorization to put you down..."

Taggs looked about ready to get physical, whether he was armed or not, when Lafteroth stood between them. "Hold on a minute, Commander," she said, glaring daggers at the silver-and-blue Reploid. "You're doing this the wrong way." She turned to him and kneeled down so she could look him in the eyes. "Taggs, please. If not for reason, then for good! Your brother must be stopped, one way or another."

The Eternal looked up into her eyes, full of pain and remembrance of his brother Bane's death at the hands of the Hunters so very long ago, and also a twinge of hatred for using his inexplicable weakness towards her. She cold-cocked him, then she expected him to do something like fratricide? After what seemed like an eternity, he found the ability within himself to speak: "One way or another, huh? Fine, I'll do it; but only under one condition."

Calibur looked miffed, but Lafteroth waved a hand at him, body language telling him to shut it. "What condition?"

"I want him to be taken alive," replied the red-haired Reploid coldly. "I don't want my brother dead, and I especially don't want his blood on my hands. And if it's on anybody else's hands--" Taggs shot a dirty look at the Hunter Commander sitting across from him. "--I'll kill that person myself."

The white-haired girl turned to look at Calibur, who didn't seem to be too pleased with the idea. Nevertheless, he responded, "Alright, I'm sure we can get that one past X. We'll take Chance Eternal alive... but so that he may be cleansed of the virus."

Taggs nodded, and stood up. "Well then, now that that's settled, let's get underway. I believe we have a long flight ahead of us."


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

**Maverick Hunters World Headquarters, New York, New York; United States of America**

**08:59 March 11th, 2151**

As soon as the three remaining helicopters touched down, they were surrounded by so many guards that Taggs Eternal could have sworn it was Woodstock... except with heavily armored base personnel instead of hippies. He was roughly shoved out of the copter by Calibur's team and into the mass of Hunters, who then grabbed him, held his arms behind his back, and marched him into the building. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed medical personnel taking his two still-unconscious brothers and placing them on stretchers. And finally he saw Lafteroth standing in the bay of the command chopper, overlooking the entire display of events.

While outwardly he felt cold towards her, inside he knew that he would shortly forgive her. He wrestled with these new feelings, ones that made him weak and susceptible to the power of mere suggestion. The way she had gotten him to sit down in that field... he growled a bit, making the Hunters all around him jump.

As soon as he was inside, another team of Hunters took him, slapping cuffs on him, and marched him straight into a jail cell. After roughly throwing him on the ground, they sealed the door tight and left him in total darkness. The Eternal had a tough time of it, but he managed to get to his feet and stumble onto a bench. He laid back, resting his shoulders that suddenly hurt quite a bit. He had no idea how long he was in there; he fell into deep meditation, a trick he had once learned when traveling the Himalayas and visiting a monastery. The Reploid monks there, upon learning who he was, were all too anxious to teach him how to attain inner peace. He surmised, with a chuckle, that they didn't want him going insane and tearing their eyes out.

Regardless of how much time had passed, the solid-titanium door to the cell opened, casting light across the small floor space and onto the form of Taggs, still resting on the bench. He cautiously opened one eye, and then both upon seeing it was Lafteroth. He moved to a sitting position and looked her straight in the eyes. This time, however, he wasn't looking at the eyes themselves, but rather trying to see past them. She seemed equally curious about him, but didn't stop to stare. She continued across the cell and sat down next to him.

Now he just stared at her in disbelief. She looked back at him, sighed, and said, "I'm sorry about what happened. I... should've treated you more like an adult. But you have to understand that Chance is too big of a threat to not take seriously." Taggs didn't respond, rather just moved his gaze down to his own feet. She was making sense, something that he didn't want her to do. He detested the idea of having to fight his brother, he detested the idea of killing... he was built to be a soldier, and he did it with perfect technique. He could do more push-ups than any Hunter alive, he could outmaneuver any Maverick, and sometimes he wished that he had run into Sigma just so he could test his strength. He had beaten the great Megaman X to within an inch of his life, and nearly repeated the act against Zero. Once, he and his brothers brought an entire Hunter base to its knees... and he hated doing it. He hated doing _all_ of it, but...

"But what else is there?" Taggs muttered aloud. Lafter shot him a quizzical look. He recovered from his internal reverie, and said, "Nothing... but I forgive you. I _don't_ forgive Calibur, though... everything he's ever done to me and my brothers... it's too much for one person to forget." He grew quiet once more, but started when Lafter put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You harbor a lot of pain and rage," she said softly. "I hope that one day you can rid yourself of it." She planted a quick kiss on his cheek, stood up, and walked out of the cell. The door slid shut, once again leaving Taggs alone in the pitch-black room.

* * *

**MH WHQ - Briefing Room 2-19, NY, NY; United States of America**

**13:00 March 11th, 2151**

Taggs was marched into the small briefing room, where the Reploid took in the little that there was to see: three rows of chairs, each row eight chairs long and split down the middle by a center aisle. At the front of the room was a large screen, and on the floor in front of said screen was a deactivated holoprojector. Calibur stood, arms crossed, and smirked at the arrival of the prisoner. The other occupant of the room, however, did not look so pleased.

X was considered by most to be a very peaceful, diplomatic individual. Despite having saved the world seven times, he never liked war, and others mocked him for it; they found pacifism to have no place in the Maverick Hunter organization. But the blue-armored robot felt differently: eventually, the Hunters were going to exist in a time of peace and not war, and it was that day he looked forward to.

The Reploid before him, however, bore some significance to the Blue Bomber. This Eternal, normally clad in his blue and gold armor, had once faced the Hunter commander in single combat and came out victorious. X still harbored some resentment over the event, but it was obvious from Taggs' greeting that he still relished the result of the battle:

"Well well well!" Taggs piped up, unusually upbeat for an incarcerated person, "If it isn't Little Boy Blue! Where's your crimson companion? The two of us have a score to settle."

"I don't know where Zero is," X said matter-of-factly, gesturing to the Hunter escort to seat their "guest". The Reploid clad in a golden jumpsuit was roughly forced into a chair in the front row, his shackled hands behind him. "If Zero were here, however, we could take care of this situation without your help."

The Eternal sighed, not wishing to continue the conversation, but knew that he had to. He spoke: "This situation being, of course, being my currently-Maverick brother." Of course, was the gist of X's reply. "My brother who, up until recently, was not a focus of interest." Correct. "My brother who is now prepared with his own legion of viral troops to step up and take the great Sigma's place as leader of the Mavericks." Also correct. "And, of course, with the bishie-bozo out of the picture, you figure only another Eternal could put down this threat to world peace." Yet again, correct.

Taggs sighed in frustration. He wanted to say no; X would understand. He didn't care if he got locked up again, perhaps for the rest of his life. The Eternal brothers had a bond, one that had never been violated. When one was in trouble, he would go to his nearest brother and stay with him for as long as needed. Of course, they knew more than three of them in a single location would draw too much attention, so they did their best to remain as spread out as possible. But he remembered his promise to the girl, to Lafteroth... and he wasn't the kind of person to go back on his word.

The gold-clad Reploid looked up and his eyes met with the Blue Bomber's. A flash of deep-seeded hatred passed through both of their minds, but Taggs pressed an issue forward: "This is going to involve Coal and Tome too, isn't it?"

X nodded in response. "Yes, at first we thought we would only be able to locate you. However, your two brothers made themselves available. Once they're out of the medical wing, this operation will proceed directly ahead."

Resisting the urge to lunge forward, shatter the chair, and rip X's windpipe out of his throat with his teeth, Taggs only huffed. "What's the plan, then? How do you expect us to get to Chance with so many Mavericks standing in our way?"

X pointed over his shoulder to the silver-and-blue armored aerial Reploid behind him. "Commander Calibur is the tactician of this mission, not me."

The Eternal groaned aloud, a response neither of the Hunters was exactly surprised to hear. "Good to hear your enthusiasm," Calibur smirked. "Now pay attention, because I'm only going to explain this once; you'll have to describe it to your idiot brethren when the time comes." This provoked a bit of a growl from Taggs, but the Hunter commander continued, keying a few button combinations into a small remote he held in his palm. The screen lit up with a 2d map of a small area, presumably in central Eurasia.

"This is where your target is," Calibur went on, a red light winking on and off to indicate the area. "He's holed himself up in some sort of cave system, which is surprisingly smart; our laser satellites can't get at him at his current depth. We've tried to send a couple of fire teams into the caverns and flush him out, but he's arrayed his troops in an almost impenetrable defensive formation. Nothing we throw at him, save a couple of nukes, has the power to plow through that. And we can't use the bombs because there are too many small towns surrounding his location." The description made sense to Taggs: during training, Chance was constantly the one imagining, creating, and applying his own formations with surprising efficiency; their hard-light holographic opponents were rarely able to break them.

X now stood up, the holoprojector behind him flashing to life and displaying a news clip. "Normally, we'd plan more thoroughly with you and your... 'unit', but unfortunately your brother made a move." The news clip proceeded forward, showing a group of Mavericks attacking a nearby town with a contingent of Hunter forces in it. It flashed forward, showing the aftermath and displaying a devastated town. The reporter droned on about the staggering loss of Hunter personnel compared to Maverick casualties. The clip vanished, and Calibur resumed his explanation.

"We're pairing you and your two brothers with the three Locke mercenaries," the aerial-based Reploid said, calling up profiles and records regarding the mercenaries. The Eternal's eyes flitted over the data on the screen, noting their success ratio was fairly high, as was the difficulty of the missions they were generally assigned to. "This will be complicated to organize, as I'm sure you realize. The information on your cores, as given to us by Cain's notes, has revealed that you are unable to perform an independent teleport. Instead of forcing the Lockes to piggyback your signals, which would probably prove futile anyway due to your brother's interdiction field, we shall be air-dropping the six of you as close to the cave entrance as we can. From there, you will have to infiltrate the base on foot. Our spies have reported that there are a number of different ways into the base. You can ask one of our operators for a map and mission outline so you and the Lockes may plan this yourselves."

It was time once again for X to speak. "You're allowed to roam the base freely... but in the public sectors only, with the exception of a few areas that are crucial for you to plan for your mission. You will be de-shackled, but remember: every Hunter in this base is on alert, and is more than willing to put you down if you cause a ruckus. Dismissed."

The Hunter escort, who had remained in the back of the room throughout the entire briefing, walked forward to disengage Taggs' cuffs. However, before the man could get halfway to him, the golden-clad Eternal merely slipped the inert cuffs off his wrists and deposited them on the floor. With a final, leering glance of "victory" towards both of the Hunter commanders, he walked out of the briefing room.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

**MH WHQ - Mess Hall, NY, NY; United States of America**

**16:34 March 11th, 2151**

"So, what's the plan?" Midnight asked. He, Lafteroth, and Shandor sat at a round table in the Hunter base's cafeteria. However, they weren't alone; sitting across from them were the Eternal brothers Taggs, Coal, and Tome. Steaming mugs of coffee had been provided, as well as tactical printouts of all the data the Hunters had gathered: troop strength, base layouts, and even electronic "blueprints" of the computer systems built into the caverns.

"Hell if I know," growled Coal, sipping his coffee. He was in his armor, sans his helmet, and silently grumbling to himself about having to work with the people who had kidnapped them. The grey-armored Reploid could still feel the base of his skull tingle every time he thought about the stun blast the girl had hit him with.

Tome wasn't paying the group any mind. His helmet was off too, revealing matted-down, dark blue hair, and he was using the ready access to his mouth to chug his mug of coffee. The blast geared towards him had seemed worse than the one Coal received, though no one but Lafter knew why. And, when asked, she refused to explain.

Taggs merely sat there, his mug untouched, his eyes scanning over the blueprints and layouts. He knew Chance, and knew where he would set up most of his defenses... but he didn't know how much his brother had learned since he had gone Maverick. The gold-clad Reploid closed his eyes, recalling a time long before any of this Maverick nonsense, before the Hunters...

Even before Zero.

* * *

_**Cain Labs - "Combat Caverns" Eternal Training Facility, Michigan; United States of America**_

_**11:13 August 29th, 2107**_

_Taggs couldn't help but let a mirthful laugh rise out of his lungs and he couldn't resist opening his mouth to let it out. It was hot, it was sticky, but none of the brothers would give it any mind. They were too busy enjoying a late-morning combat exercise. Well, seven of them were enjoying it; Taggs was unfortunately confined to the observation deck. The injuries he had sustained two days ago during a simulation prevented him from being able to participate: both his wrists had been accidentally and critically damaged by one of his brothers while raging. While Nox couldn't stop apologizing for the incident, the damage had been done, and Taggs could no longer use his arm busters. Dr. Cain had said something about coming up with an alternative solution, but until then, he was stuck just observing._

_All the Eternals liked a good fight, but that wasn't what had elicited the laugh from the gold-and-blue armored Reploid; rather, it was the as-usual zany plan that one of his brothers had come up with to combat their hard-light holographic opponents. What was funny was the fact that it was working. Their not-really-there opponents were set to the highest intelligence level, but only mid-to-high difficulty. Dr. Cain had quickly found out that, while the Eternals were still technically maturing in their abilities, they were not hard pressed to outwit opponents of less-than-worthy intelligence and subsequently defeat them in interesting ways._

_"How the _hell_ did you manage to get all of your opponents to delete themselves?!" had been one of Cain's more notable outbursts during their earlier exercises._

_Now, however, Taggs was in the perfect position to observe all his brothers in combat... and there was a lot to observe. The caverns were huge; no one knew exactly what caused them to form there, but few people knew about them, and even fewer cared. Within the massive air pocket in the earth was an "open-air" training facility that had been developed for the Eternals themselves; they were combat models, built to be soldiers just in case the need ever came up. The good doctor was sure that there wouldn't be a need for them; that the world was at peace and would remain that way for a good long time, but he also knew it couldn't hurt to have a few lying around. Looking over the facility, it was obvious that Cain intended for the eight of them to be the perfect enforcers of peace: there were battlegrounds for all occasions, including indoor, outdoor, little cover, excess cover, close-quarters, long-range, and even an aerial combat area. The Eternals lacked the equipment necessary to try aerial combat, but Dr. Cain had assured them that it would be arriving within the next month or so. There was also a small building that had been constructed to act as a classroom for the eight brothers, where they would watch videos that demonstrated small unit tactics, firearms practice, and even the proper way to negotiate for peace instead of acting physically. While these old holo-vids often caused the Eternals to laugh and joke about how silly and aged the demonstrations were, the point always found its way across._

_The Eternals themselves were becoming specialized as well, and Dr. Cain believed it to be because of their unique personalities developing and presenting their own methods of problem-solving. Taggs just chalked it up to each of them having their own experiences in combat: himself, Bane, and Coal had proven themselves to be good at mostly every exercise, from hand-to-hand, to medium range, to extreme-range, to even commanding squads; Nox and Reaper had proven themselves to excel at stealth and close-range combat, but not so much at anything ranged further than the reach of their melee weapons; Rook was a powerhouse, no denying that; Tome was a speed demon without equal among his brothers or any of the other Reploids that stopped by, with the exception of "smart" vehicles; and Chance was the brilliant tactician. The perfect quirky family, all working together as one well-disciplined unit... it almost brought a tear to the gold-and-blue armored Reploid's eye._

_The door behind him swished open, and Dr. Cain walked in muttering something and looking a bit distraught. Taggs glanced over his shoulder, gave a friendly wave hello, and returned to observing his brothers. He was almost content to just sit there and observe the careful ballet that was urban combat... but he would have much rather been down there, trashing the simulations of massive enemy construction robots._

Honestly, whoever could entertain the thought of berserk Reploids?_ Taggs thought to himself with a light chuckle..._

* * *

**MH WHQ - Mess Hall, NY, NY; United States of America**

**16:35 March 11th, 2151**

"Hey! Earth to Taggs!" The golden jumpsuit-wearing Eternal was brought out of his pleasant memories by a swift kick to his knee, awarded to him by his brother Tome.

"Huh?" Taggs said, almost sleepily, before realizing where he was. Immediately, he sat up straight and shook his head to dispel the thoughts of the past; that time was gone now, never to return. Trying to force himself to return to the present situation, he picked up the printouts and began to scan over them again. As he was about to open his mouth to suggest a course of action, there was a crash and the sounds of a commotion coming from the Hunter HQ main lobby.

"...the hell was that?" Shandor asked, though it was obviously rhetorical; Tome looked about ready to answer with the possibilities, though.

"I dunno, but it sounds like we should go see what's going on," Coal commented. All six of them stood up as one and rushed out of the mess hall, meeting up with a contingent of Hunters that were also on their way to investigate the sudden explosion of noise. The group rounded the corner and met with quite a sight: a large hole had been punched in the wall, the debris scattered everywhere, and none other than Artemis Cain in a Goliath Ride Armor towering over a frightened secretary, glaring daggers.

"Umm, s-sir," the secretary stammered, "I-I-I'm afraid that I don't kn-know where this Reploid of yours is... we get a luh-lot of people coming through here every day..."

"BULLSHIT!" Artemis screamed, using the massive fists of the armor to crush the desk flat. The secretary let out an "eep!" and jumped back, flattening herself against a wall. "The Reploid I'm looking for came through here as a prisoner! Now, say his name with me: Taggs. Eternal. _TAGGS FUCKING ETERNAL!_ You had--"

Suddenly, a loud voice boomed over the murmuring crowd of Hunters and non-combatants that had gathered to watch the spectacle: "_ARTEMIS!_" The man in the Ride Armor turned and saw a blue-armored Reploid standing out from the crowd, a look of deep anger on his face. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?!"

"You had a squad of Hunters kidnap three of my father's Reploids off my company's premises!" Artemis Cain snarled. "That was unacceptable. They came to me for help! You had no right to capture them!"

"They were wanted criminals," X said calmly, though it was obvious to all the Hunters present that he was trying to keep his rage down. "Your security cameras recorded them scaling the side of the building, and as you know, we keep track of surveillance in your company. We wanted them, so we sent a retrieval team to get them." The Hunter commander paused for a moment, suddenly thinking of something. "...they weren't supposed to be detected..."

At this, Artemis just smiled. "Well, your female Hunter that infiltrated the complex was obviously too caught up in her objective to check for all the security devices. I caught her on camera knocking out Taggs and taking him out of the building." As suddenly as it had appeared, the smirk vanished, replaced with a sneer. "Now, bring me Taggs, or I'll keep tearing up your headquarters."

X couldn't hold back anymore. "You're such a spoiled bastard! This is not how your father operated--" The commander was cut off as Artemis swung the massive fist of the Goliath armor, smashing a walnut panel on the wall into splinters. The Blue Bomber gritted his teeth: he was such a pain in the ass! "You can't just come in, smash up our lobby, and expect to get whatever you want!" At this, Artemis picked up a potted plant and hurled it into a wall, where it shattered and left a good-sized dent in the side of the lobby. X winced visibly. "...you're paying for these damages..."

"Fine," Artemis spat. "I came here to make good on a promise. Just get Taggs for me, and I won't tear up your precious base."

X, while looking like he was debating if he should shoot the son of Xavier Cain, nodded towards the secretary. Just as she was about ready to tell X that the intercom wouldn't work with her desk smashed, the Reploid in question walked out of the crowd, barely able to suppress a smile.

"I'm right here," Taggs said. "What's up, Artemis?"

"Ah, Taggs!" Suddenly, another smile was on Artemis's lips. But this one was a genuine friendly smile. "Good to see you! I have your armor ready for you; I couldn't make all the changes that you wanted, but I'm pretty sure this should be head and shoulders over your old stuff..." The golden-clad Reploid cracked a smile. Was this guy crazy, or just bi-polar? Hell, was there even a difference?

"Excellent! So, where is it?"

Artemis patted the Ride Armor's rear supply compartment. "Right in here. Now, is there a fitting room or something? I've got to make sure everything checks out." Taggs motioned towards a hallway leading off. Artemis, in an acrobatic feat, leaped out of the Ride Armor, undid the magnetic lock on the armor's rear compartment, and hauled it off with Taggs help. The rest of the Eternals and Lockes followed, and the crowd dispersed, leaving X and the secretary alone in the lobby.

The blue-clad Hunter commander sighed and shook his head. Looking back over his shoulder, he said simply to the secretary: "Call maintenance to come fix this mess... and maybe a designer, too. Something tells me that walnut panels are going out of style." With that, he turned and walked back to his office, intending on finding some stress relief in a brown bottle hidden in his desk drawer...


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

**MH WHQ - Medical Bay, NY, NY; United States of America**

**16:45 March 11th, 2151**

As Taggs Eternal fit the last piece of his shining new armor onto his sleek yet powerful form, he regarded himself in the mirror. The first part, he noted, was the new jumpsuit. It was golden, just like his old one, but this one was less torn up from the skirmishes of the early morning. The rest of his armor, however, had quite a different flair. For one, all the blue had been turned to black, as Coal had recommended. His boots, now much slimmer yet containing a more powerful dash system output and capable of taking more punishment than his old armor, were now adorned with gold trim around the ankles and a single green gem at the front in addition to the usual red trim around his feet. His belt had been redesigned, including for niches for a new, automatic Magnum Buster holster and saber recharger; on his old armor, he had improvised his own systems to allow for their storage. The gauntlets now bore red trim around the wrist as well as a green gem, and his chest piece had been expanded to encircle his entire chest and back, and was completely colored red. His shoulder pawldrons were rounder and slightly larger, but not so much to limit mobility. Finally, his helmet was overall much sleeker, with the golden stripes slightly thinner and racing back at a shallower angle. The audio enhancers on the side, affectionately referred to as "earmuffs", were also sleeker, pressed further in to allow for less drag while dashing, and designed differently to resemble a rear-swept, rounded parallelogram.

He was in a small room off the primary medical bay. When the issue had come up of a new jumpsuit and one had been offered, the red-haired Eternal had vanished into the confines of the compartment for some privacy. Now he threw open the door and leapt into the air, did an impressive aerial somersault, and landed in a crouched position, arms open and back. Six of the seven audience members just stared at him incredulously; Lafteroth applauded his efforts lightly and held up a quickly-fashioned sign with a "7" scrawled on it.

Taggs stood up with a grin. "What are you, Germany?" He joked to the white-haired Reploid.

"Ahem," Artemis said, attempting to bring the gold-and-black armored Reploid back to reality. "I take it you like your new armor?"

"Hell yeah!" Came the enthusiastic response, the Eternal in question rapidly popping out his saber and buster in an attempt to gauge the amount of time it would take. "I'm sleeker, more agile... hey, how do I look, by the way?"

"Absolutely dashing!" Lafteroth said, clasping her hands together in mockery of a nineteenth century woman about to swoon over the handsome figure in front of her. Of course, at least one of the Eternals sitting on the sidelines was convinced that it was an authentic display cleverly masked by humor, and maybe one of the Locke Reploids as well. However, such opinions were not given an opportunity to be voiced.

A booming voice emanated from the darkest corners of the Medical Bay. "You look stunning." A Reploid walked out of the corner... not just a Reploid, a _massive_ Reploid. He had a white, teal, and brown color scheme and a unique helmet with what looked like a medical scanner built in... hell, the entire helmet might have been a technology rig built into his head. He smiled. "Now, what are you doing in my medical bay when you don't seem to have any need for medical attention whatsoever?"

All eyes turned to the massive form, and six loud gulps were heard. Artemis, however, crowed cheerfully. "Lifesavor! It's good to see you. How have you been?"

The giant showed a toothy grin. "I've been doing alright, Artemis; keeping busy with work." Lifesavor turned his eyes to the other Reploids present. "Whose merry troupe is this? I don't recall ever seeing any of them."

"Well then, allow me to introduce you," the son of Cain said. "These are the Eternal brothers... at least, three of them. Taggs Eternal came to me for new armor, and his two brothers Tome and Coal tagged along. I don't know much about the mercenaries, though..." Artemis stopped and seemed to consider them for the first time. "What are your names, anyway?"

The three Locke siblings rattled off their names, to which Artemis nodded, though they couldn't tell if he was actually paying attention. Lifesavor's eyes seemed riveted to the Eternal brothers, however. "These are the 'Disturbed Reploids' I've heard so much about?" He muttered, though with his voice it would be difficult not to hear him on the other side of the room.

All three of the brothers shot him a withering look, but it was Tome who stepped up to the massive Reploid first. "Who're _you_ calling disturbed?! We happen to be very normal, thank you very much."

"Not from the stories I've heard," the medical droid said gravely. "You've faced down a lot of Hunters before, yes? I thought so, because those who come back tell stories about demons, Reploids possessed with the power of a God and the capability of the Devil. They say you and your brothers become lost in your own worlds, and that translates into horrific battles and bloody defeats to the Hunters. Tales are told about how you know your opponents moves sooner than they do, how you can all leap into the minds of enemies and manipulate their brains in order to make your fights easier. 'Infinite power for eternity' has become your calling card around here." Then Lifesavor smirked. "Then again, these are the stories told by men who were defeated. I don't know if they're exaggerated, but Dr. Cain's files made it crystal clear that you're not to be underestimated."

Silence reverberated through the bay for a long time, broken by a huff from Taggs. "We may be good, but we're not murderers."

"Of course not," Lifesavor replied slyly, making his way to the door. "I've got to go see Commander X. Nice to meet you all." With that, he left, humming a happy little tune.

"...that guy's fucking nuts," Shandor was the first to say.

"Mmm-hmm," was Coal's well-worded reply before he cleared his mind entirely of the incident. "Artemis, now that you're here, would you mind helping us plan a strategy? We'll need all the brains we can get if we're going to succeed against Chance."

* * *

**Maverick Underground Citadel - Inner Sanctum; Syria**

**17:06 March 11th, 2151**

The Eternals had all received strange names, though at first they had only been referred to by their numbers. A few had picked their names: Taggs, Nox, and Tome. They had picked those names because of their uniqueness, the fact that no other person on Earth would be called anything similar. Of course, those three had been the last of them to receive their names. The rest of the Eternals had earned names based on their actions: Bane, because of how he steadfastly took leadership and held onto it, and for that reason the holographic enemies seemed to focus more on attacking him than the rest; Reaper, because he snuck around and effortlessly took the lives of the unwary holograms; Coal, simply because of the color of his armor; Rook, because he tended to boost diagonally when attacking; and Chance, because he was not one to pass up opportunities whenever they arose.

In fact, it had been Chance himself who had suggested that they break free of their prison, and Chance himself who had planned how it would go. And, following Bane's death at the hands of the Hunters, it was Chance and Chance alone who seeked extra power with which to avenge his brother, and found an agent of the virus. Submitting himself, be became a willing servant to the Mavericks, beginning with odd-jobs and then becoming a full-fledged warrior after proving himself. Now, several taken opportunities later, the grey-and-red armored Eternal was on a throne deep within a series of twisted caverns and catacombs, waited on hand and foot by viral slaves, and guarded by the best warriors under his power.

His armor resembled his brothers', to be sure, as all of them were made by the same manufacturer, contracted to the same designer. Of course, he had... embellished his a bit. His boots ended in wicked tips that could quite easily pierce but not slash; knee-guards at the very top of his boots held the same fashion. His undersuit was a very dark grey, and like most of his brothers, he wore an armored belt that hid many surprises, but this one was of a brilliant red hue. The wrist guards on his red gauntlets bore grey trim and were pulled slightly upward so as not to restrict movement before coming to a sharp point that always drove his punches home. His pawldrons, following the motif, were grey with red trimming and came to nasty ends, though more for presentation than practical means. A red chest plate with diamond grey patterns on it was adorned by a single, rectangular ruby; a deep red cape was draped off the back, dropping down to his ankles.

Chance's helmet, however, was the one he had most tinkered with. Its base was the basic helmet that all of his brothers had started out with during their training. It was the same shade of grey as the rest of his armor, with symmetrical red flashes adorning it. The Eternal had even gone so far as to remove the gem that had previously occupied the space above his forehead. However, what made it truly unique was a pair of titanium bars that had been welded masterfully onto the helmet that ran across the surface, down the back, and then swung out and tapered to a point. These cosmetic additions made him look like a devil that had bothered to comb its horns in the morning. The helmet was not closed, but a straight crimson visor hung in front of his eyes, giving everything a red tint. The effect of this was marvelous: any non-Mavericks that didn't know of his power were immediately given a suggestion by the look of the armor: "Get the hell out of the way."

Suddenly, the stillness and quiet awe of his chamber was shattered as the large double-doors were flung open and in stumbled a diminutive Maverick messenger. Chance regarded him behind the safety of his visor: small reptilian-type Reploid, one that he had sent out earlier to the surrounding towns to see if he could get a reading on Maverick Hunter activity. The Maverick leader liked to know when the Hunters were going to knock ahead of time; the trophies from their last raid hung on his wall, shackled in place and whimpering silently for an end to their suffering. They had long ago given up making such protests of existence audibly.

The Maverick grunt immediately dropped to one knee in the presence of his master, but in a different tactic from Sigma he was forced to look directly upon his master's face; it was a tactic that inspired fear rather than humility. "Lord Chance," the Maverick said, a slight Latin accent making his voice smooth. "I have brought word of Hunter activity."

Chance rose from his chair, smoothing out his cape behind him and striding towards the Maverick on his knees. When he was about a yard away from him, he stopped. "Good work, Ethereal Gecko." He stopped, trying to suppress a snigger: the Mavericks had such odd names... at least, most of them did. A few, however, had decent ones. "What information do you have for me?"

Gecko kept his eyes riveted on his leader. "A small infiltration team is going to be sent in an attempt to take your life. The mission was organized by X and Calibur themselves, so mighty warriors are to be expected." The lizard paused in his delivery, knowing that the next part was going to be hard. Emotionally on Chance; physically on himself. "Three of the warriors... are your brothers." Maintaining his gaze, the Maverick soldier saw at first no emotion. Then there was a subtle twitch at the edges of Chance's lips, his eyes remaining hidden, before the entire set cascaded into a nasty scowl.

"Who?" was the simple question that emanated from the pursed lips, but it was the question that the soldier had feared the most.

"I do not know," said Gecko, and immediately braced himself for physical reprimanding. However, the expected blows never came. Instead, Chance had turned away in silent, rage-filled thought. His form was stock-still, and Gecko wasn't sure if he was still breathing or if he had shut down.

Finally, the Maverick lord spoke: "Leave me." This was followed by a guttural growl when his order was not obeyed to the letter that very instant. With a slight yelp, Ethereal Gecko was up and out, the doors to the chamber closed tightly and locked, leaving Chance in his quiet solitude.

The rage built within him, threatening to explode outward. Under the influence of the Maverick Virus, tendencies towards violence and aggressiveness were amplified as well as his strength and taste for... less honorable intentions. For the Eternal, these were even greater: the imbalances and disturbances already caused by his core and the faulty energy distribution system were now increased threefold. His passions and his current mood were intricately intertwined with his core's output level; now it bordered on 600. Another advantage of the Maverick Virus was that it increased his mind's tolerances, allowing himself to cruise all the way up to 700 before losing his sanity... or whatever pitiable shreds of it were left, anyway. Of course, the physical ramifications of going up so high were still a plague, and he could not surpass 1000 without causing deterioration.

Now, however, his mind was occupied with thoughts of revenge, against the Hunters, against his brothers. A myriad of possibilities went through his mind: had they willingly submitted themselves to Hunter control? No, impossible. They all swore oaths not to serve the Hunters for any reason. Perhaps, then, brainwashing was the culprit? No, once again impossible. They would have killed themselves first. So, how could they have come into the service of those bastards? The answer hit him like a brick wall: blackmail. They must have captured one of the Eternals and held him for ransom, forcing three of them to take this mission.

A long-forgotten emotion flashed across his mind: pity. Pity for his brothers, being forced into such a horrific situation... and pity for the defenses they would have to overcome to get to him. With a crazed laugh, he snapped his fingers, and a panel in the wall slid open, revealing a whiskey bottle. Continuing his cackling, he crossed over to the bottle, snatched it up, and approached the beings chained to the rear curving wall. They were all strung up, their heads and eyes turned downward in the perfect picture of sorrow, cursed to wear all-too-revealing scraps of once-fine clothing.

"Well my Huntresses," Chance said, licking his alcohol-soaked lips in anticipation, "Looks like my brothers will be coming to visit soon. Of course, I intend to let off a little... stress before they arrive. After all, I don't want to seem the tense, ungraceful host, do I?" He let out another mirthless, evil chortle as he took off his helmet. His long, straight, black hair dropped down about his neck as his topaz eyes stared lustfully at his playthings on the walls, eager to begin the evening's festivities.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

**1500 Feet above Maverick Caverns; Syria**

**22:01 March 11th, 2151**

The caverns were located in the western section of Syria, which had grown to be quite lush and forested close the Mediterranean, and the cavern entrance was very close to the sea. In fact, one of the towns that was frequently raided by the Mavericks was a fishing village. Locals had been suffering for close to half a year now, but the Hunters hadn't given a damn; they were too busy focusing on the larger picture. But with an army now at his disposal, Chance looked like a major threat in their eyes.

In Taggs' eyes, however, at such a high altitude the situation didn't seem to hit him very much. All he could think about was how it was a long, _long_ way down...

The bay door of the dropship groaned open, and air whipped around the seven Reploids in the staging area. Six of them weren't used to the high-speed winds, but the tactical leader for the mission, Calibur, was unaffected by it. "Okay, once more," the silver-and-blue Hunter commander shouted over the whistling gales, "The Eternals will jump first, use their boosters to slow their descent, and secure a landing zone. The Lockes will jump next: Midnight and Shandor, you know how to use your parachutes, right? Good! And Lafteroth, you have wings right? Excellent! From the LZ, you will move forward and infiltrate the base; I don't know how you're going to get into the base, but once you find Chance and incapacitate him, Shandor will activate the beacon and we'll drop in and secure you all. Understood?"

There was a chorus of nods, none of them knowing if their voices could be heard over the wind and instead opting to say nothing. Calibur gave them a signal, and immediately the Eternals jumped backwards and began free-falling towards the ground below. In mid-air, they had a brief burst-transmission conversation:

**Coal: So we all know the plan, right? Taggs and I will storm and Tome will sneak.**

**Tome: Yeah, about that: why do I have to go sneaking through the base? I should be running through the defenses!**

**Taggs: No you shouldn't. Out of the three of us, you're the quietest, and we can't trust Lafteroth to finish her mission alone.**

**Tome: I dunno, Taggs, you seem capable of trusting her quite a lot.**

**Coal: ...wait, what?**

**Taggs: Don't let the ground knock the wind out of you, sneeze-boy.**

With that last sentence, Taggs powered up to 250 and hit his dash thrusters, slowing his descent dramatically. Coal and Tome did the same, breaking their falls with ease. They turned off their thrusters, let themselves fall further at a quicker rate, then re-engaged them, once again slowing down. Continuing this pattern, they neared the ground and hit the ground for a perfect landing. Busters up, they scanned the surrounding areas: a lot of shrubs and a few tall trees, but nothing that could severely hinder movement. After scanning the horizon for hostiles, they knew it was clear; a moment later, the Lockes touched down three feet behind them.

"Ugh, these things pinch," Shandor whined, slicing the harness of his parachute with one of his beam sais and watching as the material floated to the ground. "I don't _ever_ want to do that again."

"You complain too much," Midnight said monotonously, easily undoing the clasps and pulling the harness off without damaging it. "Though I could've just used my psychic waves to slow my descent... no need for this infernal contraption."

"You're both whiners," said Lafteroth, alighting silently on the ground. She had large black wings that suddenly seemed to melt back into her emerald-colored armor. It was smooth as glass, and Taggs had marveled at the technology when she demonstrated how it actually slid out of her gauntlets and covered her entire body. When Coal had asked how it worked, she simply shrugged and said "Nanites" as if that explained everything.

At the moment, however, Coal couldn't care less. "Shut up, all of you," the grey-armored Reploid growled. "We have a mission to do, and as much as I'd like to not do it, if we don't the Hunters will kill our brother." The Locke siblings quieted down (though Lafteroth stuck her tongue out at the Eternal) and the entire group proceeded to advance silently through the underbrush towards their objective.

After about five minutes of crawling, the six of them finally reached the gaping cavern entrance. A large metal blast door had been slammed down over the large cave and welded into place, a smaller doorway having been cut out of it and a door installed in it. There were two sentries in heavy combat armor, and Midnight could sense a couple of Ride Armors plus pilots concealed in the surrounding bushes and quickly informed the others of his discoveries.

"Heavy armor," Tome whispered, "Think he expects us?"

"He obviously only expects average Hunters," Taggs said, "If he knew that we would be here, there would be a more powerful force waiting for us. Shandor, Coal, take those two Ride Armors. Do it silently; don't alert the sentries. Tome, as soon as the heaviest armors are out of the picture, I want you to take out the guards."

No one said anything, but immediately they moved into action. Shandor and Coal disappeared into the bushes, Tome moved up to the front of the group, and they waited. It took a few seconds, but finally a glowing red gem could be seen where a Ride Armor had been stationed, and a single orange sai where the other was supposed to be. Recognizing it as the sign, Tome rushed forward, becoming only a blur as he raced towards the sentries. With two well-aimed punches, the Mavericks were on the ground unconscious and with blood pouring from their faces before anybody knew what happened. The remaining three infiltrators emerged from the bushes and approached the large slab of metal that covered the natural entrance.

"That's some nice handiwork, Tome," Taggs said with true admiration.

"Thanks," the red-and-blue armored Reploid replied before starting to fiddle with the door controls. Suddenly, two gargantuan shapes came thumping out of the bushes and stepped into the faint moonlight: Coal and Shandor operated two Ride Armors and brought them to a halt on either side of the four Reploids. It had the standard round upper body and boxish leg module, but protruding from the back was a stabilizing fin that housed a jump-jet array. Instead of two fists, it had extremely bulky arm units with four round spikes sticking out and pointing straight ahead.

Shandor, from his high chair, huffed haughtily. "Can you believe this? They were going to try and take us out with Kangaroo models."

"Don't be so quick to judge," Coal and Midnight said in unison. After a moment to get over how strange that was, Coal continued: "According to the onboard schematics, there's a gatling mode. I'm assuming that it fires a steady stream of spikes at the enemy. They could have caught us off guard easily if your brother hadn't seen them."

"Sensed," Midnight corrected, tapping his forehead, "But yes, your assumption is correct. I'm assuming the extra bulk in the arms is where the extra ammunition is housed." The two would have continued conversing like this, except they were interrupted by a frustrated snarl from Tome.

"Damn you, door!" He cried out, formed his buster, and immediately began to shoot the titanium obstruction to no avail. Finally Taggs reached out, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back.

"Knock it off, idiot!" the black-and-gold armored Eternal hissed. "What do you want to do, alert the whole damn complex to our presence?"

"Allow me," Midnight interjected, extending a hand. It glowed a dim purple, and suddenly the door's hinges were on fire. After having its primary support melted right off its surface, the door teetered and fell outwards, towards the group. Midnight took a step back, and the end of the titanium slab hit the ground just an inch from his toes.

Shandor climbed out of his armor and strode through the entryway as Coal motioned to his slightly-older brother. "Taggs, get in Shandor's armor. We can use it for our rampage." The black-and-gold armored Reploid gave an evil grin and hopped in, gunning the ignition and waiting for the rest of the group to get a little ahead of them. After Lafteroth, the last of the group to enter, disappeared from sight, the pair waited an additional two minutes.

"Well, let's get started then," Taggs said, and both stormed into the complex, taking a good chunk of the protective metal covering with them.

* * *

**Maverick Underground Citadel - Vent System; Syria**

**22:11 March 11th 2151**

Tome Eternal and Lafteroth Locke were pressed on their stomachs, crawling through the ventilation system with their hands and knees. The plan was simple: there were three routes through the base. One direct one through heavy defenses and security measures that would lead right to Chance; this was the route Coal and Taggs were going to take, what with being the best fighters. The second route didn't lead to the Maverick Eternal at all, instead heading to a mainframe where the Hunters wanted some information extracted; Midnight and Shandor took that route, since it only had medium security measures. The final route was also a direct path to the Maverick leader, but involved the much-cliché activity of crawling through vents in order to reach him. This was much stealthier, thus Tome and Lafteroth had been assigned to it.

Of course, the mission planner (Taggs) had failed to observe that Tome was not stealthy. Instead, the red-and-blue armored Eternal was merely so fast that he could hardly be seen. Now, cramped up in a tight space and forced to crawl forward with only his hands and ankles behind a mercenary who had, last night, succeeded in incapacitating them and bringing them into Hunter custody. He was truly loathing having to shoulder his way through a cramped space with his unwieldy armor... though he had to admit, being behind had a nice view...

"One word about my crotch and I'll kick your teeth in through your helmet," Lafteroth growled, venom dripping from her voice and her foot twitching to prove that she did not make idle threats. Tome paused for a moment, wondering if perhaps she was psychic, before continuing the pace.

Continuing through the vents, Tome stopped once or twice after hearing something. He couldn't be sure what it was or where it was coming from, but he knew it was there. Every time he stopped to listen, though, it immediately vanished from his consciousness. "Do you hear that?" He finally asked his partner.

"Hear what?" she asked, pausing as her heart skipped a beat. She couldn't allow the plan to fall apart, not this far along.

"It's... it's like the sound of someone who's not making any sound," Tome said, then realized how silly that sounded. "Perhaps it's nothing."

"Stay alert anyway," Lafteroth replied. "We can't afford to be discovered yet."

Tome nodded as they continued to inch forward, drawing ever nearer to their goal.

* * *

**Maverick Underground Citadel - Grand Hallway, Syria;**

**22:14 March 11th, 2151**

At first, the sounds of an engagement were very far off. The guards were, of course, concerned: another Hunter fire team meant more trouble. Every time one tried to break into the base, Lord Chance himself would come out and fight them, and would leave a very large mess for the guards to clean up. One of them sighed in frustration; he had literally _just_ finished scraping Hunter brains off the ceiling yesterday...

Suddenly, the battle was right on top of them... rather, it was a slaughter. Two Kangaroo Ride Armors came skating down the hallway on dash jets. The ceiling arced sharply upward, giving clearance for one of the armors to leap into the air and come crashing down on one guard, smashing him into a fine paste. Which one did. The other sped forward, brought its spiked arm back, and lunged forward. The spikes easily slammed the second guard up against the wall, impaling him and killing him slowly while the armor's second arm fired a volley of rocket-spikes into a third guard, tearing through the synthetic flesh with frightening ease.

With all three guards dead, that section of hallway was clear, and the armors continued to skate forward. Loud sirens began to blare and red lights flashed. Taggs stole a glance at Coal. "You think one of them finally reported the disturbance?" He asked.

"That, or we tripped a sensor," Coal shrugged. "We _are_ doing this so they notice us and not the other teams. And hey, if we get lucky, maybe they'll send some other Ride Armors after us. That'd be much more of a challenge!" Taggs nodded, his eyes seemed to be drawn to Coal's right "fist". He immediately chuckled and pointed. The grey-armored Eternal followed his gaze and noticed the body of one of the guards was still stuck to the spikes. With an "ew" and a wave of the massive gauntlet the corpse was dislodged and sent flying through the air.

The alarms continued to blare, the lights continued to flash, and infantry troops began to pour into the hallway. The Eternals in the armors continued to decimate them, often just dashing forward and using the armors' mass to crush anybody in their way. Finally some of the Mavericks began to bring anti-armor weapons; an anti-matter blast was fired and neatly took the left arm off Taggs' armor. The Eternal responded by promptly firing a single spike, nailing the Maverick to the wall and allowing the weapon to clatter to the ground. Countless casualties later, the infantry was in full scale retreat with their own Ride Armors coming to engage the enemy.

Coal let out a low, uncharacteristic whistle. "Look at that! Five Hawks, two Raidens, and a Goliath! Brother's been busy," he commented with a smirk underneath his helmet. His brother just nodded, obviously focused on the Goliath. It was massively armed and armored, with missile pods and fully-charged energy weapons, not to mention melee spikes much like those on the Kangaroos. Two-inch thick Titanium plating protected the pilot, who also wore a heavy helmet and probably heavy combat armor in addition to the armor's defenses. The black-and-gold armored Eternal knew that he should be the first target, but was unable to act upon this as the Hawks immediately opened up with their rocket launchers. Still having enough height clearance, the Kangaroos leaped over the initial volley and fired their spikes downward. While the sharpened projectiles filleted the Chimera armors instantly, the Hawk armors were reinforced with extra plating; the spikes merely bounced off harmlessly. As the Kangaroos fell back to the ground, the Hawks adapted the tactics of their enemy. Using their flight engines, the five armors lifted off the ground and hovered in the air, firing a second volley of devastating explosives. The Kangaroos reacted immediately, though one didn't react fast enough; Taggs' armor was struck by several rockets and the Reploid inside barely jumped out before his vehicle combusted. He hit the ground hard but quickly leapt to his feet. His core boosted itself up to 341 and he engaged his dash thrusters, launching himself into the air at one of the Hawks. Gripping its arm, the Eternal brought up his beam saber and slashed high, slicing off the pilot's head. His body remaining in the armor with its foot on the appropriate pedal, the armor stayed in the air.

Taggs immediately took action. The other armor pilots hadn't noticed what he had just done, so he quickly jumped on top and slammed the joystick with his foot, realigning the armor to face the other four. He then toed the fire command, launching armor-piercing rockets that embedded themselves in the other armors and exploded, knocking them out of the sky. The very last armor, however, managed to squeeze off a rocket at Taggs' armor. It exploded underneath the Eternal, sending him tumbling to the ground far below. Landing face-first, he let out a pained groan and rolled over onto his back, his limited self-repair system righting all the circuits that had been wronged when he struck the ground.

The black-and-gold Reploid felt the footsteps more than heard them as Coal walked his armor over to his brother so he could look down at him. "You alright?" came the grey armored Reploid's query. It was well disguised as merely a curious question, but his brother sensed a twinge of concern that could not be concealed.

"Peachy," was Taggs' reply. "I was thinking I might just lie here for a while, enjoy the stunning view of the... ceiling..." Suddenly, his sarcasm was interrupted by a crackling sound, followed by a voice that both he and Coal immediately recognized:

"My brothers, do not continue to destroy my base," boomed the indisputable voice of Chance. "If you cease your rampant swath of chaos, I have something in my chambers that I think you would enjoy..." As his voice trailed off, the two Eternals in the hallway heard a cry in the background, and immediately Taggs tensed up. He recognized that voice anywhere.

Chance had Lafteroth.


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

**Maverick Underground Citadel - Vent System; Syria**

**22:15 March 11th, 2151**

It all happened so fast Tome wasn't sure it was happening at all until it was relatively over. The first thing to happen was dead silence: the pair knew they had reached Chance's inner sanctum, and had to remain completely quiet until Taggs and Coal got there. Next thing they knew, the shit had hit the fan. A single word was mumbled by someone outside the vent, and suddenly the metal that Laffy was lying on shattered and she fell through. As Tome attempted to dive and catch her, something grabbed him from behind and yanked him further back into the vents.

The Eternal whipped around, buster at the ready, and saw that a lizard-type Maverick had grabbed him. _Where did he come from?!_ was the first thought to cross his mind, until he realized something: he had been there all along, and he had known it. He just hadn't _noticed_. Admittedly baffled, Tome regardless began firing at the lizard. In a cramped space such as a vent, it takes special effort to miss, an effort that the red-and-blue armored Reploid was not willing to expend. Even though he continued to sink shot after shot into his enemy, it acted as if the shots never touched it, and continued to pull back with ever-increasing speed.

Lafteroth, however, couldn't care less about the fate of the Eternal she had been partnered up with. Instead, she was worried about her own problems. She suddenly found herself on the floor about twenty feet below where she had been, air no longer in her lungs. She took a sharp intake of breath and, for such a sudden movement, was punished with a fit of coughs. A second later, she found herself able to breathe again, but it was then that she was roughly seized by the "collar" of her armor suit and pulled up until her feet were just barely above the ground and she was eye-level with a red visor.

"Hello, pet," Chance sneered. The white-haired Reploid could smell the faint trace of alcohol on his breath. "Thought you could get in here and assassinate me cleanly, eh? Well, allow me to assure you: better Hunters than you have tried." He indicated towards the wall where three female Hunters hung by their shackled wrists, seemingly unconscious. An empty pair of shackles was bolted to the wall. "You will be joining them, of course. I have a recent... vacancy, a spot that you should fill quite nicely." His eyes flicked up and down her body, still covered by her emerald nanobot armor.

The Locke 'bot felt repulsed and wanted to throw up. She felt like she was already being violated just by his stare. She squirmed in an attempt to get free, and that squirming eventually turned into thrashing. Finally she got lucky, her boot flying up and catching him in the side of the head. Stunned for an instant, it was enough for her to get free. She immediately dropped to the ground and did a sweeping kick, knocking the Maverick lord off his feet. Chance, however, was fast and immediately caught himself with one arm, spring boarding back to his feet and lashing out with a fist. Having been designed for agility, Lafteroth dodged the blow easily and kicked high, striking the Eternal in his chest plate. The strong armor caused her foot to just glance off and make her stumble, an advantage Chance wasted no time in exploiting. Immediately his foot lashed out, tripping up her other leg and causing her to tumble to the ground. Quickly the Eternal was on top of her, straddling her midsection. She immediately moved to either get him off or get out from under him, but a swift and powerful jab to the side of her face all but knocked her unconscious.

"Taggs," she found herself whimpering as she was yanked once again to her feet. Upon hearing this, however, Chance paused.

"Did you say... Taggs?" he asked, "As in, Taggs Eternal?" She just looked at him, not giving him any affirmation. But he figured it out anyway. "Taggs is one of the ones attacking?! How the hell did they manage to blackmail him? He's the only one of us that hates Hunters more than Reaper..."

Lafteroth's eyes suddenly seemed razor sharp. "Taggs wasn't blackmailed. None of them were! They know what's right and they're here to stop you!"

The Eternal's face became passive. "I find that hard to believe." With that said, he strode over to the wall and fitted her shackles over her gauntleted wrists. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a trap to weave." He strode towards his throne, withdrawing a transmitter from the arm of the chair. He raised it up to his lips and spoke into it:

"My brothers, do not continue to destroy my base. If you cease your rampant swath of chaos, I have something in my chambers that I think you would enjoy..."

* * *

**Maverick Underground Citadel - Inner Sanctum, Syria;**

**22:24 March 11th, 2151**

It didn't take either of the two rampaging Eternals long to get to the Inner Sanctum from where they were. Taggs just indiscriminately plowed through everything that got in his way, consumed by emotions he didn't understand; Coal was driven by concern for his brothers, wondering why one wasn't gloating about capturing the other. Either way, the opposition was yielding like butter to a rocket launcher: messily.

Finally, when they came to the door, their opinions on how to proceed split: both were running hot, up to 380, but Coal was keeping his head while Taggs wasn't. The grey-armored Reploid suggested some discretion when it came to going into the chamber, even going so far as to recommend an air of diplomacy. The black-and-gold armored Reploid merely ignored his brother, dug his fingers into the solid titanium doors, and wrenched both off their hinges. He flung the two ruined slabs of metal to either side, barely missing his brother, and strode into the chamber.

His eyes glowed with fierce intensity as he walked right up to the base of the throne and stared directly into Chance's visor. "Where... is she?!" he said, the fact that he was barely restraining his voice apparent to everyone present. His brother just stared down at him.

"Who?" the Maverick lord asked innocently, unable to prevent the corner of his mouth from turning upwards.

Taggs just snarled and looked around the room, his eyes eventually settling on the emerald-clad mercenary shackled to the wall. Her eyes were open and looking at him, tears beginning to form. There was a dark mark on the side of her face and a faint amount of blood was collecting in the corner of her mouth. The rage inside the eldest Eternal suddenly spilled over, and the black-and-gold armored Reploid lunged forward and struck out with his fist. Chance moved quickly so that the closed hand of his brother merely shattered the back of the throne and not the red-and-grey armored Reploid's skull.

While the battle between the two Eternals began, Coal dashed across the room and up to Lafteroth, determined to know the fate of their brother who was supposed to be with the Locke ''bot.


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

**Maverick Underground Citadel - Mainframe Terminal; Syria**

**22:24 March 11th, 2151**

"Hurry up!" Shandor howled over the whine of auto cannons down the hallway. "The automated defenses we rigged are holding them back for now, but I don't know if they can last much longer!" The raven-haired Reploid, sniper buster on hand, whirled around the edge of the doorway, took quick and careful aim, and fired a shot before retreating once again to cover. Midnight couldn't tell what he had just shot at, but judging from the fact that he heard a loud scream and the sounds of auto cannons letting up, he guessed the target was incapacitated.

"I'm working as fast as I can," the purple-robed Locke replied, "But Chance must have a few superb programmers here. This firewall is quite a challenge."

"You saying you can't hack it?" Shandor asked, surprise evident in his voice.

Midnight clucked disapprovingly in response. "Well, I never said that..." He trailed off as he became absorbed in his work, trying to penetrate the electronic defenses and counter-hack measures. Chance's minions were skilled, to be sure, but they still weren't up to the challenge of deflecting him. The Hunters wanted all the technical statistics on the base's defenses as well as the troop patterns and formations that Chance had recorded. While the mercenary could understand why, that meant he had to get through all the security measures and into Chance's personal computer. And it was a challenge that he could relish.

Suddenly, Shandor tensed and looked up. When Midnight gave him a questioning look, his black-haired brother merely pointed up and inquired: "Do you hear that?"

The purple-clad Reploid strained his ears, and heard something just barely within earshot. "Yeah, it sounds like clanking, scraping, and... swearing?" As the last word left his lips, an explosion suddenly erupted up above, the steel plates parting like a flower bud blossoming with the force of a roman candle and dumping a red-and-blue, scorched shape on the floor.

"Tome?! What the hell?!" Midnight exclaimed, bending down to examine the semi-conscious Eternal.

"Did you try to grab my sister's ass or something? I've never seen her get so riled up before..." Shandor said just before a shape dropped down from the opening and landed in his hair. Immediately he began freaking out, screaming obscenities and threats at the foreign object that had gotten entangled in his locks. With a swift flick of his wrist, Midnight enveloped whatever it was in a telekinetic field and lifted it out of his brother's hair. As Shandor nursed his wounded strands, the wiser Locke looked the creature up and down.

A flash of recognition crossed his eyes. "I know you from the data files on this computer. You're Ethereal Gecko, aren't you?"

"Yes, and you'll never catch me!" was all the Maverick was able to say before Midnight used the field to rip off his left arm and then send him hurtling down the hallway. When his body finally skittered to a stop, the automatic cannons tracked him and then opened up. Once again, Midnight was unable to see the results, but after a moment the auto cannons stopped firing and became still once again. Only silence was heard in the hall.

"I never said anything about intent to capture," Midnight muttered before turning back to his work. As an afterthought, he said over his shoulder, "Shandor, care for Tome, would you? I'm almost through the second layer."

"How the hell did you get messed up so bad?!" was Shandor's first question when Tome finally opened his eyes. "Don't tell me that little runt was able to defeat an Eternal."

The red-and-blue armored coughed, a bit of smoke drifting up from the opening in his helmet intended for his eyes. "No, he didn't. He just caught me by surprise. But, take my word for it: a fully-charged shot in such cramped quarters is not a recipe for success."

"Then I'm sure you won't mind answering this one nagging question for me," Shandor said as he picked the weakened Eternal up and slammed him against a computer panel on the wall, the screen spider webbing from the force. "Where the hell is my sister?!"

"I don't know!" Tome responded, trying to kick the man pinning him to the wall but proving unsuccessful in his attempts. "The floor just shattered beneath her and she fell through! I think we were in Chance's room when it happened, but I got dragged away by that little bastard before I could figure it out."

"Then get back in that air duct and rescue her!" The Eternal briefly considered picking up the black-haired brat and stuffing him in there himself, but realized that it was his responsibility to travel with her and make sure their objective was completed. With a heavy sigh, he jumped up to the ceiling, grasped the lip of the opening, and pulled himself inside.

A moment later, the two Locke brothers heard a distinct sneezing sound, followed by a string of obscenities that would make a prostitute who lived by the wharf blush. The cusses began steadily distancing themselves from the mainframe, leaving Midnight to continue his computer work.

* * *

**Maverick Underground Citadel - Inner Sanctum; Syria**

**22:25 March 11th, 2151**

The battle had started with a well-aimed punch, but it was obvious from where Coal was standing that Taggs had no intention to keep it so innocent and hand-to-hand. The black-and-gold armored Eternal now had his Magnum Buster out and firing while his other hand clutched an activated beam saber. He would dash forward to get close to Chance, swing the energy blade, and when his brother jumped out of the way fire his weapon with renewed vigor. Despite the shocking amount of firepower, however, Chance was nimbly dodging the lasers and laughing, obviously egging his brother on.

The grey-armored Eternal had quickly figured out that Chance was much higher on the power output than Taggs, but he couldn't bothered to inform his older brother: he was focused on getting to Laffy and finding out what happened to Tome.

"Hey," he said, almost whisper-quiet, as he dashed up to her side.

She mouthed the word "hello" but winced in pain when her cheek muscle moved.

A sudden, intense blast whipped the air in the room into a frenzy and pulled at Lafteroth's white hair. Coal turned around and saw that Chance had begun to use his own buster, and judging by the size of the hole in the wall it had been upgraded a bit since they last saw it: the impression in the wall must have been three feet deep and seven feet wide! However, the grey-armored Eternal knew his priorities and turned back to Lafteroth.

"Where's my brother?"

She looked at him in disbelief. "Huh?"

"Where is Tome?"

"What the hell!" she almost screamed at him. "I'm shackled to a wall and you want to know about your _brother?!_ What kind of rescuer are you?"

"The kind who doesn't care about you!" he snapped back. "I only want to know what happened to my brother; you can rot for all I care, or wait for Taggs to rescue you." She was admittedly taken aback by his blunt attitude, but the Hunters had cautioned the Lockes that the Eternals were very overprotective of each other. The white-haired Reploid nodded up towards a hole in the ceiling, and Coal quickly caught on to what happened.

"Thanks," he said, before leaving her and dashing into the fray, determined to help his other brother.

Taggs, in the meantime, wasn't looking for any help, having already pushed the output of his Eternal core up to 584. He swung his beam sword, not actually expecting it to hit. It didn't, as Chance back flipped and fired his buster as soon as his torso came around. However, the black-and-gold armored Reploid had anticipated this and, with a boost from his dash thrusters, launched himself up in the air and over the beam of plasma. He brought the Magnum Buster up and fired. Chance moved quickly, but not quickly enough: the spike on the end of his shoulder vanished in the mini-hell storm of plasma released from the barrel.

"You're fast, brother," Chance sneered, continuing to dodge the volleys of blaster fire, even after Taggs hit the ground. However, the other Eternal didn't seem inclined to speak, and instead let his weapons do the talking. He kept Chance moving in a tight area by using his Magnum Buster, then closed with a dash and swung with his beam sword. The crimson-and-grey armored Reploid ducked and then fired his buster upwards. Taggs avoided the brunt of the blast, but the sheer force of the plasma expulsion from the barrel knocked him off his feet. He rolled and sprung to his feet.

"Heads up!" cried Coal's voice as a buster shot sailed over Taggs' shoulder, right past the side of his helmet, and struck Chance in the chest. It knocked the wind out of him, but it wasn't enough to puncture the armor. The grey-armored Eternal dashed right past his older brother, lashing out with a fist and catching his visored sibling in the chin. The Maverick reeled back from the blow but maintained his footing, firing his buster and nailing Coal in the back. He was propelled fifteen feet before he smashed painfully into a wall.

_What the hell was that?_ Coal wondered, trying and failing to rub his damaged head through his helmet. _There was no energy in that blast... he uses a concussive buster? Weird..._ He didn't get a chance to speculate further as he was forced to roll out of the way of another blast.

In response, he matched Taggs' output and rushed back into the fray. No matter how high the core level, one Eternal cannot stand against two for very long, and before he knew what happened Chance was on the floor, beaten and broken. Blood poured from his nose, his armor was cracked, and half his visor was shattered. His helmet had been slagged by all the plasma Taggs had pumped into it, his legs were hardly operable, and the only things that escaped damage were his arms and his head, which had been protected by the now-ruined helmet.

With his brother on the floor, defeated, Taggs powered down to a safer level and rushed across the room to Lafteroth. Cutting her down with his beam saber, she fell into his arms and gave him a weak hug in thanks. Still carrying her, he walked over to Coal who was helping Chance up.

"W-What the... hell?" the crimson-and-grey armored Reploid stuttered, a flow of conductive fluid rushing from his mouth. "Why did you spare me?"

"To save me the pleasure of executing you!" cried a voice from above just before a lance of energy shot down from above, piercing Chance's skull and vaporizing his electronic brain.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

**Maverick Underground Citadel - Inner Sanctum; Syria**

**22:31 March 11th, 2151**

Taggs and Coal were struck speechless as the burst of energy exploded out the back of their brother's head and the body slumped to the ground, never to know life again. There was a faint, fading whine as his core gave its last hurrah and ceased its limitless production of energy. Both the Eternals felt tears welling up in their eyes, and turned their enraged gazes skyward. For the first time, they noticed the hole big enough to fit a squad of airborne attackers that had been neatly and silently cut in the top of the chamber, and faint moonlight silhouetted their attackers. One of the two men on the ground, however, could instantly recognize one of them.

"Calibur!" Taggs spat, and a throaty guffaw answered him.

"That's right!" the silver-and-blue armored Hunter sneered. "Sonnik here is actually a very accurate shot with a particle rifle." The silhouette motioned towards another that hefted a long-barreled weapon and was undoubtedly grinning in victory. "You see, a bloody fate awaits you and your brothers, Taggs, and I've been lucky enough to be assigned to its execution... or, rather, _yours_."

The group of Hunters, four in number, hovered down to the ground level so they could look their prey square in the eyes. Calibur, Seize, Sonnik, and Aero-Blade all saw their two targets; Taggs and Coal only saw red, and instead guessed at where the four dead men were. The black-and-gold armored Eternal felt the rage inside him begin to boil over, and his core skyrocketed, steadily making its way to the 700 marker, before he realized how tightly he was gripping Lafteroth and eased up a bit. Coal, however, allowed himself to go nuts.

With a pained roar, the grey-armored Eternal launched himself at the Hunters, slamming a fist into Sonnik's face and a boot into Seize's groin. Both collapsed to the ground under the force, albeit in differing postures of agony, and Coal turned his rage on the two remaining opponents. There was no black, white, or grey; only those who deserved death, and that was everybody. With another cry, he threw himself at Calibur, tears freely flowing from his eyes, with every intent of ripping out his core and crushing it between his thumb and forefinger. However, the Hunter Commander expected this berserk move and dropped low to avoid the initial brunt of the attack, striking upward with his hand and effectively ceasing his momentum. With his other hand, he formed his buster and fired a shot into the chest of the grey armor. The plating became scorched, paint peeled away from the heat, and the hot metal sizzled against the Eternal's chest. Finally, Calibur heaved Coal's heavy form aside where it crashed into the ground and skidded a couple of feet before coming to a stop, leaving the Eternal doubled over from the pain.

Lafteroth could only watch this scene unfold with horror: her strength and energy felt sapped, and she could feel Taggs quiver in a combination of sorrow, rage, and fear. But she knew why he wasn't acting: he didn't know if he could attack and keep her safe at the same time, and the situation grew more complicated as Sonnik and Seize pulled themselves off the ground with obvious effort.

"I must admit," Calibur mused aloud to the remaining pair. "Your casualties are higher than expected. You lost two Lockes and one Eternal? I figured you would put up much more of a fight... or that Chance there would have had much weaker defenses. Perhaps I overestimated you."

"You did nothing of the sort, fucker!" came the scream from above just before Tome landed on top of Aero-Blade, swung his fist and connected with Seize's jaw, and fired a fully-charged blast directly into Sonnik's torso. All three Hunters collapsed to the ground, and Calibur found himself caught between two enraged Eternals. Yet, for some reason, he wasn't afraid, despite the whining charge of Tome's buster.

Instead, the Hunter Commander just smirked. "Well, this should be interesting..." was all he said before Tome fired, Calibur leaped up into the air with the assistance of his jets, and the boiling plasma shot raced towards Taggs. The black-and-gold Eternal turned to allow the shot to hit his back, but didn't move quickly enough: the shot hit his shoulder and sent him flying, his extremely short flight ending with him crashing painfully to the ground helmet-first with bone-jarring intensity. On the second bounce, Lafteroth skidded out of his arms and came to a stop a few feet away. Taggs forced his head up to see her prone form, but knew she was alright. Then he felt something hot run down from the top of his head, over his face, and to just past the outside of his right eye.

"Good shot!" Calibur congratulated the youngest Eternal from high above. "If that had hit me, I daresay I'd be in worse condition than your brother." Without another word, he turned and fired down at Tome who easily dodged the shot with his superior speed. In the meantime, the black-and-gold Eternal held a half-second burst-transmission conversation with his siblings:

**Taggs: Coal, you still awake?**

**Coal: Yeah. I'm just waiting for that pompous bastard to let down his guard.**

**Tome: Holy shit! I'm so sorry Taggs! I didn't know he could move so fast!**

**Taggs: Forget about it, kid! We need to get out of here. He caught us off-guard, which was our mistake, so we have to live to fight another day. It's what Chance would want.**

**Coal: ...alright, so what should we do?**

**Taggs: Tome, do you know where the Lockes are?**

**Tome: Yeah, they should still be in the mainframe room.**

**Taggs: Good. You and Coal go there, each of you grab one and get outside, and then have them initiate a random teleport. We have to get out of here. I'll take Lafteroth and hijack one of the Hunters' teleport systems; hopefully, Miss Locke will be in good enough shape to use her Program Buster or whatever it is. Clear?**

**Coal: Crystal.**

**Tome: Crystal.**

**Taggs: Then get your asses moving!**

With that said, Tome immediately turned on his heel and dashed out of the room. Coal leapt up off the floor and followed suit, leaving Taggs and Lafteroth to fend for themselves. The black-and-gold armored Eternal was quickly on his feet and sliding under Calibur's shots and up to Lafteroth's side. She was trying to get up, but it was obvious she wouldn't be going anywhere on her own.

"Save your strength," he whispered to her, scooping her up in his arms again. "We're going to need it in a second." She nodded and allowed him to pick her up. Firing his dash thrusters as hard as he could, he closed the distance between himself and Sonnik's body, dodging plasma balls raining from above, and skidded to a stop just before he would have collided with the inanimate Hunter.

"Shoot him with your Program Buster and tell his system to teleport us out of here!" Taggs cried, skipping around another bolt of white-hot death. Lafteroth nodded and complied, missing on the first shot but striking the target with the second and third. Immediately the three forms were enveloped in a bright light, transformed into colorful shafts of energy, and zipped out of the area on a random vector.

* * *

**Abandoned Hunter Outpost 0918, German Forest; Germany**

**23:58 March 11th, 2151**

The three of them had initially ended up somewhere in Brazil, and lay low for roughly an hour to make sure that they weren't followed. After ensuring their security, Taggs had Lafteroth repeat the maneuver once more and bring them to the specific co-ordinates he had given her. While she had doubts about the whole ordeal, he seemed to know what he was doing and she knew she could trust him. As soon as they materialized among the tall, dark trees in the dead of night, the black-and-gold armored Eternal drew his Magnum Buster, put it against the base of Sonnik's skull, and fired right up into his brain.

"Hunter bastards," he muttered under his breath before returning the weapon to its cradle and beginning a hike through the forest. He no longer carried Lafteroth, who had said she had strength enough to walk, and instead just helped her when she needed it. While he couldn't formulate a good guess as to how she was able to recover, he just chalked it up once again to the nanites and said nothing. The white-haired Locke, however, was a bit more concerned about Taggs than he was about her. She noticed him limping slightly and breathing irregularly.

_Huh,_ she wondered, _I wonder if there are some things that the Eternal core can't fix..._

Finally, however, they came upon a faded white building, standing alone in the forest save for a single Ride-Chaser path that led up to the front door. The couple approached it, and Taggs reached out to rap lightly on the steel door. Lafteroth and her "escort" stood in front of the barrier before it finally slid aside.

Lafteroth's breath caught in her throat: the sight that greeted her on the other side of the door was like something straight out of a horror movie. A figure stood in front of them, perhaps just a hair taller than Taggs. He wore a great brown cloak, and peeking out from under the cloak were pieces of faded and chipped black armor, with large patches of paint missing. Adorning his head was a black helmet, also scraped and battered, with two large blue fins emerging from the top. While she was no technical expert, she guessed that they were heat sinks, but couldn't be sure. However, the dominating feature was the face, or rather, the eyes. Amidst all the faded scars of battle that criss-crossed his mug, two shining white eyes peered out from the top of the cloak. They were featureless and filled Lafteroth with a deep sense of fear, so much so that she nearly missed seeing the ornate steel scythe he clutched in one hand.

"Hey Reaper," Taggs said between ragged breaths.

"Hey bro," was all the strange Reploid said before he swung his scythe at the pair of Reploids.


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

**Abandoned Hunter Outpost 0918; Germany**

**23:59 March 11th, 2151**

As quickly as the blade swung, Taggs moved his arm to stop it. He noted, in the half-second he had to react, that the blade wasn't so much aimed for him as intended to swing upwards past his midsection and into Lafteroth's chin. Knowing this, he quickly moved his right fore-arm to intercept the blade while placing his left over the target, just in case he botched the first block. He didn't; the scythe clanged into the black-and-red forearm bracer, coming to a dead stop and hardly scratching the paint.

"What the hell was that for?!" Taggs asked, a couple droplets of blood escaping his lips. He knew he would have to rest soon; he was pushing his body too much, even for the Core to handle. Of course, he didn't need to sleep for the repairs to happen, but he also knew that he would need to rest his mind and shutdown his emotions grid for a while.

"She's a Hunter!" Reaper hissed, his opaque eyes seemingly fixed on Lafteroth, though neither could be sure. "I can smell it on her! Their sterile bases, the scent of their plasma blasts... she's one of _them!_" The cloaked Eternal looked at his brother expecting a look of surprise, of shock; but he was instead treated to a look of anger. "You... you already knew... why did you bring one of their filth to this place?!"

Taggs pushed past Reaper, dragging the white-haired mercenary along with him. "Just get out of our way, and I'll explain it all soon enough. We just need a place to rest." Still looking stunned, the cloaked Eternal let them through and closed the door behind them. Taggs' first note was how dark and secluded the place was: there was hardly any lighting on, just the emergency backup lights that glowed a soft, luminescent white.

"What happened, bro?" Taggs asked, leading Lafteroth to an aged couch and laying her down on it. The back of the left-hand side had a large hole blown in it. "Did the main generator fail?"

"No, no," Reaper shook his head. "I just turned them off. It made this place look too... too... clean. Too clean for all the blood spilt that this place has caused." The black-and-gold armored Eternal opened his mouth to press further, then shut it, deciding that silence was better.

"Now," continued the death-esque Reploid, "Your... _friend_ there is all settled. Come with me: you have a lot of explaining to do." Taggs turned to leave, and heard a weak sound of protest from the white-haired Locke on the couch. He planted a kiss on her forehead, whispered some reassuring words, and then exited the room, closely followed by Reaper. They moved through the darkened hallways, passing scorch marks, blood stains, and in one case the body of a poor female Hunter sniper, a large, deep gash running vertically down her torso. Reaper finally grunted a direction, and Taggs turned into a side room. After taking it in, he realized that it was a weapons locker room, probably part of the armory. None of the lockers had been opened.

"Explain," commanded Reaper, indicating a place for his brother to sit and taking a seat himself. The black-and-gold armored Eternal removed his helmet, took a deep breath, and recanted the tale: of how he had been attacked in Mexico, of Cain's death, of the Lockes and their abduction of him and his brothers, and of Calibur's betrayal and Chance's death. While he talked, he tried to gauge his brother's reaction, but found himself unable to do so. He finally realized why Reaper had his eyes bleached: so no one could read him, no one could understand him. He would forever remain an enigma to all those outside his world, which included everyone but himself.

Finally, when Taggs finished his story, Reaper leaned back and closed his eyes, obviously going over everything in his head. He didn't move for two whole minutes, and the other Eternal in the room stood still as well. After what seemed like an eternity, the fear-inducing Eternal slowly opened his eyes and regarded Taggs.

While to the red-haired Eternal Reaper was an enigma, Taggs was equally a mystery to the cloaked Reploid. Almost immediately after they escaped from Cain Labs, they had all sworn an oath to die before serving the Hunters. Now, over forty years later, Taggs had suddenly broken that oath. Reaper knew how to read between the lines, though: while Taggs had never spoken specifically about his feelings for the white-haired Hunter, his brother could hear the miniscule flutter in his voice whenever he spoke of her.

Turning his head away but keeping his eyes trained on Taggs, Reaper asked: "You love her, don't you?"

The black-and-gold Reploid started in his seat, but quickly relaxed. "I... I don't know..."

There was a long pause before the white-eyed Eternal spoke again. "I was in love, too, once."

"Yeah, I remember... Cyree... I'm still sorry to hear about her..."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. You weren't the reason we were created like this, to be a danger to ourselves and everybody around us... even those we love." Reaper choked back a tear, painful memories flooding back, but he held his posture and stance at the exact same.

"I... I..."

The cloaked Eternal sighed, shook his head and got up. "You have to get some rest. There's a small infirmary down the hall; go there, bandage your wounds, then find the team quarters and get some rest. Pick your favorite bed, and if it's the one with a body in it... just push it out and onto the floor. I'm going to go keep an eye on our 'guest'."

Taggs nodded and stood up, picking up his helmet as he went. He didn't say anything, but it was understood: if Reaper harmed a hair on the girl's head, vengeance would be quick and merciless.

Back out in the room with the sofa, Lafteroth knew she wouldn't be able to get to sleep. She just laid there, staring upwards, tracing faint lines in the ceiling with her eyes. Finally, she heard heavy footfalls, and looked over to see Reaper walk in, pull up a chair, and straddle it as he sat down. She listened intently, but couldn't hear the steps of Taggs' boots. She immediately shot the other Eternal a glare, but he just stared back at her and diffused her anger, replacing it with fear.

"I've been glared at by professionals. Don't even waste your time on me." His eyes narrowed, and she tried to shrink back into the couch. "You may have captured my brother's fancy, but you'll find me much harder to win over."

Lafteroth forced her fear to the back of her mind. "I never said anything about trying to gain your favor," she shot back. "You're just a bastard. All of the Eternals seem to be incorrigible anti-socialists with the exception of your brother." Reaper, despite all the venomous intent, didn't seem at all fazed. Rather, he seemed curious.

"You two really fancy each other, don't you?"

The white-haired Locke blushed slightly, but kept her tone level. "Perhaps, but I'm sure that you don't know what that's like." She hadn't expected it to affect him at all, but he visibly flinched at the stinging words. "...or do you?" She sat up, suddenly interested in the story he was hiding.

"That's none of your business." He turned away.

"Come on, tell me!" she pried, sitting up even straighter.

"No!"

"C'mon! What happened to her?"

"...I killed her..."

Any further words Lafteroth just froze and died in her throat, instead to be replaced by a single question: "...how?"

"The same way your love is going to kill you," Reaper replied, the misery and acrimony welling up in his voice. "I killed her, the same way any Eternal is doomed to do if he falls in love. We have no control, no distinguishment between friend and foe when we get high up on the energy. One day, when you're in a fight and Taggs is trying to protect you, he'll end up killing you.

"Just like me," he added, though Lafteroth could hardly hear it. She suddenly felt a mix of anguish and pity for Reaper, and anger towards him for suggesting Taggs could be so inhuman. But, inside, she realized that contesting it would just awaken more painful memories for the other Eternal and start an argument that might escalate into physical fighting, something she wasn't ready for. Suddenly she felt very tired.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," she said sincerely before lying back down, rolling over, and falling into a peaceful sleep. Reaper watched her for a while longer, internally convinced himself that she was no threat, and got up to wander around the base for a bit. The memories of the Hunters he massacred to claim this base as his home offered him some comfort, especially when he visited each of their sites of demise.


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

**Abandoned Hunter Outpost 0918; Germany**

**04:37 March 12th, 2151**

The forest was dark, almost pitch black except for the extremely faint moonlight that glittered down from between the branches and budding leaves and the outdoor lights that dimly glowed on the side of the ex-Hunter base. Taggs Eternal stood just beyond the entrance, gazing up through the bare branches and into the starry night sky. The trees around him creaked and groaned, and a small sigh escaped his lips in synch with the noise of his environment. His armor, sans his helmet, was still on his body; he had left the headgear on the bed.

Staring into the heavens, the shunned and outlawed Reploid found some solace with the twinkling lights. They were isolated in the void: not quite alone, but lost from each other, distanced apart by millions of light-years. He found them to be so much like himself, like his brothers... all forced apart from each other, from the world, yet still walking next to the rest of the world, like the stars with the rest of the universe.

His blue and gold-flecked eyes could have been contented to continue their contemplation of the sky, but suddenly a thin, graceful arm wrapped around his midsection. It felt warm against the exposed jumpsuit. While Taggs certainly enjoyed the sensation, he felt it try to apply torque to him, so he obliged by turning around to face Lafteroth.

Her green eyes looked up at him imploringly, sharp despite the lack of sleep she had. But before he could tell her to go get some rest, she spoke first: "What are you?"

The black-and-gold armored Eternal was taken aback by the question, and briefly doubt crossed his mind: didn't she understand that he was an Eternal, a disturbed Reploid? One of Cain's "sons"? He looked deeper into her eyes, and suddenly it dawned on him: she had talked with Reaper. Inwardly, he cursed his brother for always instilling doubt and fear in whomever he spoke to, but he knew that she would eventually ask that question. It was better that she find out here and now than later.

He looked over her, over the base, and up once again to the sky. "Have you ever heard of Cain's many peacekeeping projects?" he asked, and didn't even need to see her shake her head; he could hear the slight rustle of her white hair. "Before the outbreak of the Maverick Virus, Dr. Cain thought that some Reploid units would be required to act as policemen, soldiers, whatever. He made weapons, equipment, and everything necessary for a normal Reploid to pick up the cause and fight crime or the bad guys, whoever was acting wrongly.

"Well, it wasn't enough to just outfit a previously-made construction or interaction Reploid with the tools of the trade. They weren't good enough on their own. So, the old man decided to make a few specialized combat Reploids, with Vile being his first. He made a few other combat models, but they still had the limitations of ordinary Reploids. Now he wanted a model of Reploid that could fight for extended periods of time, so he set about designing a core that could produce a nigh-infinite supply of energy to the Reploid who had it. He got it right on his first try.

"Of course, while the Eternal Core worked without a hitch, the Energy Distribution System for almost all the Reploids wasn't able to handle that much power and would break down past 150. So he created a new version, one that was sturdier, but it was ultimately flawed. Once we powered up to 400, the distributor would shut down some of our non-essential functions in order to allow for that overflow of energy, making us focus on the mission at hand. Past 700, we lose all non-essential and most secondary functions, so we only focus on the immediate objective... and killing everything around us. No-one has ever gone beyond 1000.

"Using the flawless core and the flawed system, he constructed us. Most of us were variant X-series models, but Reaper, Rook, and Tome have different templates. We were all activated in numerical order, with a half-second between coming online. I was the second of the eight of us. Cain created a special training facility and raised us to fight, but also gave us a human side. But the problems with our EDS were too big to ignore, and one day..."

* * *

_**Cain Labs - "Combat Caverns" Training Facility, Michigan; United States of America**_

_**13:51 October 30th, 2107**_

_"So what's this all about, doctor?" Bane asked as he and his seven brothers were led into a smaller, more confined section of the caverns by Dr. Xavier Cain. None of them recognized the area, and they had seen all of the caverns, so the lot of them surmised (mostly over burst-transmissions) that this particular room had been built extremely recently._

_"I'll tell you once we've begun," Dr. Cain replied, motioning towards a group of eight stasis pods that dominated the small room. While the space was unfamiliar, the equipment was instantly recognized: they had seen these before, when they underwent major maintenance to damaged areas or upgrades to their hydraulics systems in order to allow them more efficiency in battle._

_However, all of the Eternals noticed a slight quiver in Cain's voice, but no-one said anything._

_Each of the brothers climbed into the pods obediently and laid back. The glass slid shut, and a limb-locking program activated, preventing any further motion. Internal speakers in each case crackled to life, flooding the air inside with Cain's voice:_

_"I... I'm sorry, boys. I wish... well, you're too dangerous. I shouldn't have created the cores, it was a mistake... I've condemned you to a life that no man, biological or mechanical, deserves. You're frightening, you're horrific, you're... you're disturbed. I cannot let you out to the world at large. Perhaps one day, when it is possible to fix your problems, you will be revived, and you can live normal lives. And maybe... just maybe, on that day, you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I wish I had another choice... I'm so sorry, Eternals..."_

_It quickly dawned on them the severity of the situation, but it was too late: their movements were locked, the pods sealed, and in a second their minds would be shut down, possibly to never know consciousness again. Fortunately, they realized that their communication systems weren't blocked out, and immediately set about coming up with a plan:_

_**Nox: Holy shit, that crazy bastard's serious!**_

_**Rook: What are we gonna do?!**_

_**Tome: We're screwed!**_

_**Taggs: Calm down, guys! We have a full second to come up with a plan; we've had less time and succeeded, yeah?**_

_**Coal: Yeah... yeah, okay bros, think!**_

_**Bane: I have an idea: the failsafes.**_

_**Reaper: What are you talking about?**_

_**Chance: Of course, the failsafes! Y'know, if our core energy drops a certain percentage, the pods automatically release whoever's inside, namely us. Since, if we die, then there's no reason to preserve our bodies, is there? And after a while of being in Overdrive-mode, our cores automatically revert to 100 as default.**_

_**Tome: ...so if we power up far enough, then the pods'll eject us as dead matter!**_

_**Coal: But would Cain have taken that into account?**_

_**Taggs: It's a risk we'll have to take.**_

_**Bane: Right. Everybody, go up to 200 just before he locks our cores' levels. We should be able to maintain that for a week or two before we get booted, and after that, we can come up with a plan. Go!**_

_Each Eternal, beneath the notice of Dr. Cain, powered up to 200 just as their core levels were locked and their minds shut-down. With a heavy heart, a sullen Xavier Cain left the room and sealed the blast door tightly with a six-level encryption; the scientist knew they would find a way out of their pods, but he had to make sure they didn't find a way to the world at large. And so, each Eternal slumbered for two weeks before being ejected, and were confined to a single room for six months longer._

* * *

**Abandoned Hunter Outpost 0918; Germany**

**04:39 March 12th, 2151**

The crimson-haired Eternal stood in silence for a while longer, eyes shut, face directed downward towards his feet. Lafteroth stood in stunned silence; all the stories she had heard, all the wild tales everyone came up with... they didn't compare to the true tragedy these eight brothers had suffered. And to lose (now two) Brothers to the Hunters, the organization for which they were originally designed was just a slap in the face, presented by fate.

_I can't blame them for hating the Hunters so much_, the white-haired Reploid thought.

Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at her, and she could see his pain. His eyes were misty from the tears that had collected on his lower lids and threatened to spill over. The blue-and-gold-flecked circles that made up his irises told of an acute suffering, displayed all the injustices they had suffered... and predicted the many hundreds more that he would have to fight through before knowing peace.

In that one moment, she realized that what she felt for him was not pity, but love. Pure, true love. She wanted desperately to comfort him, to ease his pain. Lafteroth yearned to hold him, to stroke his hair and reassure him, to draw close in times of weakness and protect him... and she felt, deep inside, that he wanted the exact same thing. Slowly, they drew together, their eyes slowly closing, their breath catching in their throats, and their lips graced each other ever-so-slightly...

Suddenly, he pulled back with such violence that Lafteroth thought she might be pulled along with him. He broke away, turned, and took a couple of steps away from her. He looked back at her, the tears beginning to run down his face.

"I can't do that to you," he said, his voice threatening to crack from the sorrow, "No matter how much I want to, I can't allow myself to love. I'll just... I'll just end up hurting you, killing you! And that would kill me, too... I can't take this anymore!" And with that, he cranked his core up to 385 and took off like a shot into the dark forest, the sounds of his heavy boots crashing through the brush and the occasional whine of his dash boosters fading off into the early morning.

Lafteroth just stood, stunned, on the stoop of Hunter Outpost 0918, unsure of what had just happened. In a daze, the white-haired mercenary turned and walked back inside and gently laid herself down on the couch, unsure of whether or not she would be able to fall asleep.


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

**Bhamo; Myanmar**

**05:03 March 12th, 2151**

Coal absolutely hated being in Asia. It was uncomfortable, even in the late winter/early spring months: the humidity was unbearable, and ever since Eurasia crashed into the Earth, the country of Myanmar had heated up significantly. Inside his heavy grey armor, his body worked fast to keep his internal devices cooled in a process not unlike the human body's sweating. His dust-grey hair was matted down inside his helmet, and he desperately hoped to find a cool, abandoned building to wait out the day in.

Of course, it wasn't hard to find an abandoned building in this city: when Eurasia had come crashing down, everybody had cleared out to go underground. Subsequently, nobody considered it worth their time to return here other than to collect their personal effects. The formerly-bustling population center had quickly become a ghost-town, with many Reploids on the run from the Maverick Hunters shacking up in the sun-parched area.

Strangely enough, the heat wasn't what was annoying Coal the most. Instead, it was the raven-haired Reploid that he had been forced to bring along, and who hadn't stopped questioning him since they made their second teleport.

"Why the hell did we come here?" Shandor whined. "It's hot, it's sticky, and the sun has barely risen! Couldn't we have hidden out somewhere cooler? Like, say, Antarctica?"

"Just shut up already!" the grey-armored Eternal snapped at him, "And you know damn well the Hunters have outposts all over the South and North poles!" Shandor pouted in response and attempted to dig his hands into his pockets, but found himself unfortunately unable to do so: he was still wearing his armor.

Finally, after a while of walking through the desolate streets, they came upon a run-down, three-story apartment building. Coal cautiously opened the door, wary of whatever dangers could lurk within. His eyes swept the room: a stairwell wound its way upward to the next two floors, a small desk with a pen dangling off the edge attached to a chain, and a series of steel mailboxes built into the wall were the only notable features.

He took a couple of steps in and called out, "Rook? Rook Eternal, are you in here?"

For a couple of seconds there was silence, then a loud clatter and thumping as someone came running down the stairs... someone who wasn't Rook. Coal had his buster trained on the person just as he entered sight.

The grey-armored Eternal took a moment to study the person before him. He was short, only about five feet tall, and wore dark-colored shawls draped over his shoulders. He had long, messy, dark-brown hair and glasses that he wore over faded blue eyes. His limbs were scrawny, and he was slightly hunched over. He just seemed like a hobo in rags, who had taken up residence in the apartment.

But Coal wasn't convinced. He approached the figure, buster drawn. Upon seeing the weapon, the man screamed something inarticulate, and flung his arms skyward. The grey-armored Eternal wasn't at all fazed by the display.

"Who are you?" Coal inquired with a steely voice, "What are you doing here?"

The man babbled something else inarticulate, and Coal immediately began to charge his buster. In a panic, the disheveled person shouted something clear: "My name is Jotuz! Please don't kill me!"

"Never heard of you," the Eternal said, not halting the charge.

"You're Rook's brother!"

That stopped the grey-armored assailant cold. He released the charging program, and the faint light that had begun to collect around the barrel faded quickly and dissipated. "You know Rook?"

Jotuz relaxed visibly, but kept his hands up. "Yeah, I crashed here with him. We were pals."

"So where is he?"

"That is, we were pals... until the moon man came!"

Coal cocked an eyebrow quizzically. "Uh... come again?"

"The moon man! He was dressed like he had just come from space!"

The grey-armored Eternal stood dumbfounded. What was this kook babbling about? Moon men? Space? He was finding it increasingly hard to believe that this man had taken refuge with Rook... not that he had taken him seriously. He just didn't want to accidentally waste a possible ally or friend.

The Eternal decided to cut through all the craziness. "Where's my brother? What did the... 'moon man' do with Rook?"

"Oh, he drove him away," came the casual reply. At this, Coal's mouth hung open, though nobody could see it. Drove him away? Drove him _away??_ Rook was a six-and-a-half-foot tall, 3-metric-ton, walking, talking, spitting, sleeping powerhouse. He could not be simply _driven away_.

"That's bullshit," the grey-armored warrior retorted.

Jotuz raised his hands defensively. "I'm just saying what I saw, is all." He crossed in front of Coal, making his way over to the mailboxes in the wall. "I mean, I should know. I'm a mechanic. I see these things."

"You could see Rook leaving even if you were blind, you stupid fool," the Eternal responded. "And you're a mechanic? I don't believe that. Any respectable mechanic wouldn't have come back after the Eurasia Incident."

"Oh?" the unseasonably-dressed man said, his eye gleaming with cunning. "You think so, eh?" He depressed a button hidden in the wall, and all the mailbox doors flew open. Credits, hundreds upon hundreds, perhaps thousands upon thousands, poured out of the mailboxes. They made waterfalls as they fell, clattered upon the ground, and shone dimly in the coming outside light and the few fluorescent strips still active in the lobby. Coal's eyes went wide.

Jotuz smiled. "There's a lot of money to be made servicing the Reploids that run here, brother of Rook." The Eternal understood it, sure, but he could hardly believe it. So much money, lying right there... and Rook had never told them. Or he never knew. Regardless, Coal could not dismiss such a powerful ally. He straightened his posture, and looked the man directly in the eye, past his own red gem on the brow of his helmet.

"Alright, I believe you. You must have known Rook," Coal said. "I ask that you allow me and a... friend of mine to stay here. In exchange, we offer you any protection we can, and our services as fighters. We might be useful if the... 'moon man' comes back." He left out the part where he actually _wanted_ the moon man to return, so that he could see what could have possibly scared off his younger brother.

"Who is this friend?" Jotuz queried, and right on time, Shandor came walking into the building.

"It was getting too damn hot out there!" He was complaining almost as soon as he stepped across the threshold. "Even if this place doesn't have air-conditioning, it's better than standing around outside with that damn sun..." The Locke's voice trailed off as his eyes settled on the man. "...who's the hobo?"

Coal shot him a nasty look, then faceplamed as best he could through the helmet. "Ugh... I swear you're _just_ like my brother..."

* * *

**Great Victoria Desert; Western Australia**

**05:11 March 12th, 2151**

"I swear you're _just_ like my brother!" Tome called out from the indignity of it all. He was being carried by Midnight under the crook of his arm. Undoubtedly the Eternal brother was heavy, but the purple-robed Locke sibling channeled some of his telekinetic energies so he weighed little more than a duffel bag stuffed with socks. And he smelled about as good as one, too, but that wasn't something Midnight had accomplished.

"I do this with Shandor all the time when he's behaving like a two-year-old," the robed one said, "I don't see why I can't do it with you. And why do you smell so bad?!"

"I haven't had a chance to shower in a few days!" Tome shot back. "And you don't smell like a pretty flower yourself." A fist came down hard on the red-and-blue armored Eternal's head. Normally, it wouldn't even faze the Reploid through his helmet, but when the fist was focused with enough of Midnight's energy manipulation to hurl a buffalo into a wood chipper 100 yards away, it hurt. Tome shut up for a while longer.

The two were trudging through the desert, after teleporting to a small town called Taber in Alberta, Canada. Once they were certain they weren't being followed by Calibur or his squad, a thought that made Midnight uneasy, the Locke had teleported them to here. Now, each had ample time to ponder the fate of their siblings.

Eventually, sometime after Midnight put Tome down, the youngest Eternal noticed something. "Hey, tracks in the sand!"

"I know," Midnight replied coolly.

"These guys are Reploids..."

"I know."

"Hey, this boot print looks familiar."

"I know."

"This is _my_ boot print! _These are our tracks!"_

"I know."

Tome whirled on the Locke sibling. "What the hell do you mean, 'I know'? Have you _purposefully_ been leading us in a circle?!"

"Yes."

That answer made the Eternal pause. "What? Why?"

"Simple. We're not going to seek anybody out, unlike your brothers. Instead, we're going to wait here for the all-clear signal, and then we'll rejoin with our families. Until then, however, we walk." And Midnight kept walking.

Tome stopped walking for a second, processing what Midnight had just said. Then he shook his head and jogged to catch up to Midnight. "You must suck at hide-and-seek..."


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

_**Harbor Islands Park, Boston, Massachusetts; United States of America**_

_**21:07 August 13th, 2139**_

_Reaper and Cyree, sitting on a park bench, held each other in a quiet embrace. Neither spoke; they didn't have to. He held her quietly and stroked her medium-length, jet-black hair. His deep purple eyes were fixed on her face, and though her eyes were closed, he knew that the most beautiful gems of jade lay behind the lids. She wasn't tall; not nearly as tall as him at just under five-and-a-half feet. The dark evening sky was cool and comforting, as the water of the Boston Harbor not twenty yards away glittered in the clear moonlight._

_"Reaper," Cyree murmured after a prolonged period of silence._

_"Mm-hmm?" he hummed._

_"Do you think..." she started, paused, then continued: "Do you think happy days like the ones we have will last forever?"_

_He could resist a slight chuckle. "Nothing is eternal, Cy," he said, then added: "Well, except for the seven of us, anyway."_

_She opened her eyes and looked up at him, reached up, and pushed a few stray bangs of his dark blue hair out of his eyes. "Condemned to live forever," she mused quietly. "I suppose that's what makes you such a hopeless romantic." He smiled, planted a kiss on her lips, and the two fell back into their silent snuggle._

_While Reaper certainly wanted these moments, these days, to last forever, he also knew the stinging truth behind his own words. Fate had a way of making things uphill-downhill for his entire family, and knew that the end of his happiness here with Cyree and her family would end all-too-soon. But he wasn't too anxious to find out how soon... or at what cost it would come._

* * *

**Abandoned Hunter Outpost 0918; Germany**

**05:16 March 12th, 2151**

Reaper's eyes snapped open, and he regarded his internal clock. He had last looked at it at 05:11, and now it was five minutes later. _He had slept for five whole minutes?_ The emotional distress of Taggs showing up and toadying about with that Hunter deceiver must have given him more emotional wear-and-tear than usual; his slumber ordinarily took thirty seconds, or up to a full minute on bad days.

He had fallen asleep leaning against the wall of the locker room, his cloak wrapped around him. It didn't offer him any warmth, seeing as how he could not get cold in the human sense of the word. Instead, anybody casually walking by would see a Reploid in a strange helmet just leaning there; they wouldn't notice the weapon tucked away under his clothes.

His scythe was a marvel of ancient engineering. The fact that such a capable weapon evolved from _farm equipment_ baffled the Eternal to no end. Its stock slid down to about three-quarters its normal height, and the razor-thin blade could fold into itself, allowing it to be hidden by his draping, baggy clothes. It was a steel-titanium alloy that could stop a beam-saber in mid-swing. Many non-combatants, most of them human, believed a beam saber to be a shaft of energy that neatly shone forth from the hilt and could cut through anything, but that was a far-out description obviously thought up by the craziest of science fiction authors. A modern day beam sword, or any beam weapon for that matter, was essentially a _fountain_ of energy: it would leap up from the hilt for a distance then fizzle itself out. Thus the weapon used a lot of energy very quickly. It could not be condensed, so the blade sparked and whipped around in an uncertain path at the earliest stages of development, but steadily-advancing technology eliminated a lot of the unknowns. There was a carbonized center, and that was hot enough to burn through a lot of things, but true solids still offered potent resistance to the weapon, making old-fashioned metal alloy sabers and scythes not yet obsolete.

However, the fact of the matter remained that Reaper desperately wanted a beam scythe, and hadn't found one in this outpost. So, instead of going through the hassle of clearing out another in the vain hope of finding one, he decided to use the current base's resources to construct one. It was taking a long time.

Regardless, Reaper surveyed his surroundings. The locker room was not his ideal place to fall asleep, but he didn't really mind it: he fell asleep wherever he currently was, with little discrimination between here or there. He had been walking through the base for what had surely been the millionth time and decided to stop by in order to survey the scene of one of the best battles in the entire outpost when he had attacked. After killing the sniper, he had heard running water and rushed into the room in hopes of finding a target. He was in luck: he caught the Hunter team's resident demolisher and heavy-weapons wielder as he came out of the shower. Despite being half-naked, the Reploid put up a grand fight, and the two of them destroyed half the locker room in the process. But the fight ended when Reaper swung his scythe and lopped off the large Reploid's head. The corpse was still in the corner, where he had steadily been backed in by the crazed Eternal.

The bleach-eyed Reploid allowed a rare ghost of a smile to cross the corners of his lips. Those had been truly happy days.

With a content sigh, he walked out of the room, down a short hallway, and into the mess hall/kitchen area. He heard slight clinking and rustling, and immediately his scythe was out and fully extended without even making a sound. He crept silently, entering the pantry area, but relaxed visibly when he saw it was just Taggs' wench. Reaper didn't put the weapon away, instead opting to strike the end of the scythe against the metal floor, creating a loud metallic ring. Lafteroth jumped visibly and whipped around.

"Hungry?" he asked slyly, and then noticed that she was wearing only a tank-top and panties. "Where are your clothes?"

"My armor is nanite-based," she replied casually, seemingly unabashed by her quasi-nakedness. "It flows over my body, so I don't need to wear clothes underneath. And I didn't think that I would be spending the night in a creepy slasher flick, so I didn't pack any extra luggage."

Reaper regarded her, silently fuming. She was beautiful, he had to admit, but after his experiences, such things no longer fazed him. Her bare thighs might have given Taggs a nosebleed on the spot, though. He was ready to turn and leave, except she suddenly lodged a complaint.

"You have nothing to eat!"

He looked at her, but with his entire eyes white, the simple look seemed much more intimidating. "You are a Reploid. You don't need to eat."

"It's a comfort thing. I like to eat breakfast; it's good to have something sitting in my stomach."

"Well, I don't eat, so I don't keep any food," he snapped, and turned to walk away.

"That's okay," she said smugly. "I do need to eat metal, but I ate a few of your pots already." Reaper didn't stop walking, just giving her the one-finger salute and exiting the room. She huffed in response to his rudeness, and turned back to raiding his pantry. It wasn't that it was empty, everything had just spoiled. He had obviously been squatting there for a long time... the white-haired Locke briefly wondered why the Hunters hadn't sent a team to try and reclaim the base.

_Maybe they did,_ she speculated, _But they didn't return alive. At least they learned their lesson after the first try._

Suddenly, she stopped what she was doing. She froze mid-reach for a can of peaches, and tears started to collect in the corner of her eyes. The memories of roughly an hour ago suddenly hit her like a pillowcase stuffed with cinderblocks. Taggs... why had he reacted like that? Did he really believe in all that bullshit that Reaper had spewed out about love and Eternals? And his outburst... she had never expected that kind of thing from him. Did he really feel that strongly _against_ her? Or was he just scared? Did he _hate her?!_ Her breath caught in her throat, effectively stopping the sob that was about to make it up her windpipe. She didn't know if she could stand the thought... she tried to forget it, to banish it from her mind, but the apprehension would not leave. Instead, she checked the can, let out a frustrated sigh, and turned and left. She wasn't even hungry anymore.

* * *

**Northeastern Sector, Munich; Germany**

**06:44 March 12th, 2151**

Taggs had no idea how long he ran through the forest; only that after a while the forest had given up and stayed behind him. He continued to run through the fields, meadows, and farm plots until he hit a road. Confused, unsure of where he was, and too outstanding in his armor, he located a nearby house. It was empty for the moment, and the crimson-haired Reploid broke in, stole some clothes and a backpack, and left quickly. He changed in a field, put his armor into the backpack, and started walking down the road. He tried hitchhiking, but nobody was interested, so he broke into another run. Wearing a ton of armor on his back, he was able to cover a lot of distance until he jumped a one-man Hunter patrol, stole his Ride Chaser, and took off down the road. He arrived in a large city in under an hour since he stole the clothes on his back.

He wandered through Munich for a while, unsure of what to do. He knew he was miles away from Reaper and Lafteroth, a good distance for what had transpired, but he couldn't ignore his own behavior. The way he had spoken, the way he had withdrawn... she had been ready to do what he had wanted for what seemed like such a long time. Why had he drawn away? Couldn't he handle the thought?

The Eternal shook his head to clear the cobwebs. _I need a drink_, he thought miserably to himself. A few minutes more of walking, and he was surprised to see a bar that was open so early in the morning. The sun had already begun to rise, and that meant more activity in the city. He couldn't risk being spotted, so he went inside. Fortunately, the watering hole seemed to be mostly empty, with the exception of four or five other individuals.

_No Hunters_, he noted. _Good._ Taggs crossed the open floor, sat on a stool, and dropped the pack with a loud _clank!_ next to the bar. The bartender barely looked up.

"What's your name, son?" he asked innocently. The man seemed largely uninterested in the crimson-haired Reploid seated before him, and moreso in carefully and obsessively arranging the glasses in front of him. He was tall and dark, with stubble growing out of his chin.

"Does it matter?" Taggs retorted, and slid a handful of credits across the surface of the bar. "Gimme a beer." Then he amended quickly, "_Several_ beers." The man nodded and obliged, reaching behind the counter and recovering a bottle. He placed it in front of Taggs, who graciously accepted it and started drinking.

Time went by quickly, and Taggs soon found himself surrounded by a horde of empty glass containers. They were lined up like soldiers, a couple knocked over and wounded. Of course, the Eternal didn't feel the effects of all that alcohol; his Core routinely detoxed his system so that he would stay in peak fighting condition. Sometimes he hated the way he had been built to be a wind-up soldier, but other times it paid off. In drinking games for money, for example, or drunken bar fights. Still, it was depressing to see so many bottles and not be able to drink away his troubles.

He heard the creaking of the wooden floorboards behind him, and he instinctively looked down despondently. The creaking stopped behind him, a soul dropped onto the stool beside him, and draped an arm around his shoulders. "Now," the newcomer began, his breath heavily tainted with the smell of booze, "I've only one reason for someone to drink so much in one sitting, and that's love troubles."

The Eternal, feeling merciful, decided to spare a glance at the man. He was hunched over the bar, with one elbow on the bar and the other resting on Taggs' shoulder. Bald on top and scraggly grey on the sides, he reminded the red-haired Eternal of any generic, geriatric human, and indeed he was. His eyes drooped slightly, dark spots contrasted his otherwise white skin, and the tatters of a beard and mustache combo clung to his chin and upper lip for dear life... or whatever was left. His eyes were glazed over, though from age or alcohol consumption, Taggs couldn't tell.

"What would you know?" the Eternal inquired vehemently, not actually expecting an answer, and took another gulp from his most recent bottle.

"Well, plenty," the old man replied. "I've lived a long life of romance, seen many pretty women walk past, and I think by now I've got the pattern down. What's your specific trouble, sonny?"

Taggs raised a curious eyebrow at the use of the all-too-cliché term, and took another swig. "You don't want to know."

"Sure I do! Now spill."

He sighed, hardly believing the situation he was about to enter. "I love her, y'know? I could die for her. But... I know that if I get into a relationship with her, I'll end up hurting her."

The old man stroked his beard remains in thought. "How do you know for sure?"

"It happened to my brother," the red-haired Eternal replied. "His situation was almost the same as mine, and he ended up hurting her. And the girl I know, she's a lot like his girl, and I'm a lot like my brother. I already know the results of trying."

"No you don't," said the old man.

"One plus one still equals two, gramps, no matter how you slice it."

"You and your brother are different people," the geezer insisted. "Even if you're similar, you still have different souls, different hearts. Things won't work out exactly the same twice."

Taggs finished the bottle and stood up to leave. "No, you're wrong," he said. "We have the same hearts. That's the problem." He turned and began walking towards the door when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. It didn't stop him physically; he was a half-ton walking mass of titanium gears and wires. But the gesture did.

"You each obviously have a different approach to things," the old man continued, stepping in front of him. "You never know until you try. Maybe Fate will smile on you, the way She didn't on your brother?" That stopped the Eternal in his tracks. He mulled over the possibility that there were different circumstances involved. The optimist in him leaped at that opportunity, using it to seize control of his brain in a bloodless and cheerful coup.

Taggs mused aloud, "Why is it that the sagest advice always comes from drunk old bastards in bars?" The old man shrugged and cackled loudly, stumbling back to his own table while shouting words of encouragement to Taggs. But by the time he reached his seat and turned, the Eternal was gone, along with his backpack.

_I have to go back anyway_, the realist inside of Taggs said, trying to comfort his wounded sense of depression. _We need to start planning for the future, we need to come up with an idea. And besides, I don't want to be caught out in the open if Hunter S&D teams arrive._ With that, he relocated his bike, removed the children that were playing on it, and took off down the road in the direction he came. His spirits were oddly high, and on his way, he hummed a little tune to himself.


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**07:15 March 12th, 2151**

It turned out that leaving the area quickly was a good idea, but Taggs didn't realize it until much later. Not five minutes after his bike had left the area, a large contingent of Hunter forces teleported into the city, responding to a report from a Hunter patrol that had lost his bike to a thief. While the standard force for this sort of thing was a four-man fire team, Commander Calibur had instead superseded the ordinary protocol and sent twenty heavily-armed Reploids into the area. After conducting a quick investigation and scanner sweep, they sent a transmission to the Hunter Base in Michigan informing them of their findings, or lack thereof.

At the news, Calibur was momentarily disappointed, but knew that there were more important things to do. Like cover his ass in his report to X. Sitting at his desk, he typed up the crisp account of their ultimate success... albeit in a slightly altered form in order to prevent the Blue Bomber from suspecting anything.

**To: **

**From: **

**RE: Action Against Chance**

**Commander X, it is with great joy that I relay the success of our latest attempt to dissuade the Mavericks from forming a new command structure in Syria. Chance, despite the best efforts to the contrary, was killed and his core detonated, destroying his body. The Lockes have been paid in full.**

**After the battle, my squad and the 32nd Heavy Artillery team cleared the entire area of Chance's remaining viral minions. This operation has, in my opinion, been a complete success.**

**The surviving Eternals (Taggs, Coal, and Tome) are still at large, but as per our agreement, they shall be relieved of all their crimes. However, it should be noted that they might be distressed and lash out at anyone due to the death of Chance. Even I feel sorry for them losing yet another brother, but such prices must be paid.**

**My base will now return to its normal peace-time duties. Keep me posted.**

**--Calibur.**

The silver-and-blue armored Hunter sat back, gave the report a brief run-through for spelling errors, and then sent it. He was proud of the way he had dealt with the situation: despite the escape of the three Eternals and the Lockes, he had still created quite an elaborate cover story. The injuries sustained by his teammates while fighting Taggs, Tome, and Coal had been written off as having happened afterwards, during the purging of the Mavericks. A core detonation had been simulated where Chance had fallen from Sonnik's shot, and the Eternal's lifeless body was currently in a third-party cold storage facility. Oh, the plans he had for that...

In the meantime, though, he knew he would have to deal with the press and further inquiries by other commanders, possibly even Signas himself. Also, there was a very real possibility the Eternals would retaliate; maybe even the Lockes would join them. Of course, to try and ensure against that, he really _had_ paid the Lockes in full. Besides, good assassins were becoming increasingly hard to find nowadays; they had unionized just a few years back.

A communications icon flashed on his monitor. He pressed the small green icon, and immediately the face of the head surgeon of Apex Laboratories filled the screen.

"Ah, Doctor Swanson."

"Good morning, commander. I'm just calling to double-check the time you wished to begin the surgery?"

"Right away, please. I need it all readied for transplant ASAP."

"Fair enough."

"I'll check on your progress every few hours. Goodbye, doctor." With that, the screen returned to his desktop, and a few button clicks later, the conversation was wiped from the Hunter Communications database. He leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. It was times like this that he really enjoyed being in the position he was, able to get away with his schemes and have an eye hardly batted in his direction. Those pesky eyelids that did, however, were quickly removed.

Calibur closed his own, however, and took a quick nap. Plotting always made him tired.


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

**Abandoned Hunter Outpost 0918; Germany**

**07:23 March 12th, 2151**

Taggs Eternal took his time in returning, and when he finally did, he found Lafteroth and Reaper literally at each other's throats. The curved blade of his brother's scythe was poised dangerously over her chest, and the long tendril of her beam whip was wrapped tightly around his throat, burning and threatening to crush his neck. Under different conditions, the situation might have been referred to as "kinky", but the black-and-gold armored Eternal had no time to consider this.

"Break it up you two," he growled. "We've got to come up with a plan."

The two combatants each pulled away from their death-maneuvers, but didn't take their glaring eyes off each other. Taggs didn't know if he should make them sit on separate sides of the room, or try and give them a spanking. While he wouldn't mind it so much with one of them, the other might be able to fight him off.

"He started it," Lafteroth mumbled almost inaudibly, but both Eternals caught it.

"What?! You lying little bitch!" exclaimed Reaper, and once again threw himself upon her, knocking them both to the floor. But this time, fed up with words, Taggs boosted his own core and lifted his brother off of her. She attempted to claw at him from her prone position, but the black-and-gold armored Reploid placed his heavy booted foot on her midsection to keep her still.

"Both of you, knock it the hell off!" He shouted, hurling Reaper across the room. He shifted mid-flight, but couldn't move quick enough and landed painfully on a table. His helmet slipped off upon impact, revealing faded, greying hair that once resembled Tome's mop. His bleached eyes glared up at his brother angrily, but Taggs stared him down. The gold flecks in his eyes pulsed dangerously, a visual threat of his core ready to pass the 400 marker. Still muttering to himself, the death-esque Eternal pulled himself up and replaced his helmet.

"Better," Taggs said sharply, and removed his boot from its resting place atop Lafteroth's stomach.

She slowly got to her feet and crossed her arms. "A plan? For what?"

Taggs looked at her, but unlike most of the looks he gave her which were filled either with previously unrequited love or pain, this time his eyes were filled with cold apathy. His steely tone when he replied didn't offer any consolation that he hadn't snapped, either: "We're going to get back at Calibur."

"Get back at him?" she asked incredulously. "How? Not only is he powerful and so is his unit, he's also holed up in a Hunter base somewhere! He'll be protected by thousands of other Reploids, too many for us to possibly incapacitate."

Taggs looked away from her and shut his eyes. "We're not going to incapacitate. Every Hunter that's foolish enough to get in our way will die. And if we perish, it will only be because we drowned in their blood." Lafteroth was visibly taken back by the sudden change in his attitude. What could have brought on this change? He had suddenly become so cold, so dark... is this what Reaper had been talking about?

For some reason, she looked across the room seeking a similar reaction in the other Eternal, but saw only a maddened grin of glee. Even though she knew she shouldn't be shocked at this, the lithe Locke mercenary couldn't help but be repulsed by this behavior. This must have been what the Eternals were like whenever they went into "righteous vengeance" mode...

The crimson-haired Eternal looked to his brother. "Bro, do you still have those 'ghost contacts' of yours?"

Reaper kept smiling. "I think I can dredge something up for you."

"Good. I need you to find Tome and Coal, maybe Nox and Rook if you can, and definitely find out which base Calibur is hiding his sorry ass."

The cloaked Eternal nodded. "Will do, bro." He then turned on his heel and walked out of the room towards the communications center. Taggs now turned his attention to Lafteroth, who looked at him with a mixture of confusion and horror. "What's wrong with you?" he asked, but once again in that nigh-toneless voice that she was learning to hate.

The emerald-armored Reploid shook her head to dispel the fear. "What about _my_ brothers?"

"I told Coal and Tome to take them somewhere safe," he said matter-of-factly, turning to leave. "They should still be with them, and probably come with them when they arrive. I'm going to check out what Reaper has in the armory." That said, he left through the appropriate door, leaving Lafteroth alone and shaken from the ordeal of seeing him in such a mood.

"Taggs..." she muttered aloud.

Reaper seemed to materialize out of the darkness behind her. "Yeah, I know!" he said, causing her to jump and glare daggers at him. He smiled in return. "He's back," he said simply, and the smile grew wider. But it wasn't a mirthful smile, not the giddy one he had before when Taggs was explaining his intentions. This one was knowing, sarcastic... an 'I told you so' smile. Before she could comment, he seemed to melt back into the shadows and vanish, leaving her truly alone this time.

* * *

**Great Victoria Desert; Western Australia**

**07:31 March 12th, 2151**

Midnight groaned loudly in anguish as Tome sang aloud "The Song That Never Ends" for possibly the millionth time. The purple-clad Locke mercenary wasn't sure which he should expend his telekinetic energy on: tearing the irritating Eternal's head clear off his shoulders, or tearing _his own_ head off to end the pain.

Suddenly, however, the obnoxious red-and-blue Eternal stopped "singing", though the purple-clad Reploid didn't classify it as that. Midnight gave silent thanks to whatever deity was in the sky for giving him a short break from the madness. However, upon looking back over his shoulder, the Reploid realized that it wasn't just him getting bored with the song; it was something else. The eyes behind the helmet flicked about, his head was cocked to one side, and he kept shifting his weight. If Midnight didn't know any better, he might guess something was wrong. Then he threw foresight to the wind and guessed that anyway.

"What's wrong?" Midnight queried.

"I've been pinged," Tome replied, his voice obviously on edge.

"Pinged?"

"Well, _ghost_ pinged," the Eternal explained cautiously. "Someone sent a signal to my EDS and made it flare. I recognize the signal, but... it can't be."

"Can't be what?"

"Reaper," he muttered, "He hasn't been active in years... shut himself away after the Cyree thing. This is usually his calling card, kind of a summons, but... why would he be summoning me?"

It didn't take Midnight two seconds to make the proper connection: "Because your brother is using him."

Tome stared at him in surprise, though the closed helmet concealed his half-open jaw. He went over it in his head, and it made sense; of course, that was the problem with him. He was so fast that things didn't make sense until _after_ they had been pointed out. But that didn't matter: Taggs had obviously gone to Reaper for help, which meant...

"Middy," the red-and-blue armored Eternal asked, "How many of your contracts have been for the Hunters?"

"Every one of them," Midnight replied. "We're pretty much Hunter exclusive; they're the only ones who can afford us. Though if another client with deep pockets comes along, we'll take their contract as well." Suddenly, he paused, then growled an addition: "And don't call me that."

The Eternal brother bit his lip in thought, which didn't turn out to be as good of an idea as the movies made it out to be. As a slight trickle of crimson fluid flowed from his mandible and he wiped fervently and vainly at the chin of his helmet (to Midnight, it appeared that he was stroking his chin far too rapidly), a thought occurred: Reaper had absolutely zero tolerance for Hunters, and a bad history with women. While the proverbial two was bad alone, two and two together would be trouble, maybe even too much for Taggs.

He wracked his brain, trying to come up with a location. "Germany," he said suddenly, surprising Midnight.

"Come again?"

"He's in Germany," Tome insisted. "An old Hunter outpost... uh, zero-nine... one-eight, I believe."

"Huh," huffed Midnight. "I know that one. My siblings were sent there once on a contract; unsuccessful."

"You mean Shandor and Lafteroth?"

The purple-clad Locke waved his hand dismissively. "No, no. The other ones."

Tome cocked his head quizzically. "You have other siblings?"

"_Had_," Midnight corrected. "Maybe I'll tell you one day. In the meantime, let's get going; I know the co-ordinates." The Eternal shrugged, put a hand on his shoulder, and in a flare of violet energy, the two were gone, leaving nothing but quickly-dispersing high-energy particles in their wake.


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

**Abandoned Hunter Outpost 0918; Germany**

**07:38 March 12th, 2151**

When Midnight and Tome appeared at the proper coordinates, they found themselves standing in the chilly German forest. The sun had barely risen, and it was silhouetting the building before them. It was beat-up, obviously weathered from so much time spent existing and not enough time being provided with required maintenance.

Without a word, the two Reploids advanced forward towards the door. Tome slipped off to one side, his buster taking shape on his arm. Midnight, however, wasn't at all nervous, and merely walked up to the portal and opened the slab of metal obstructing his further progress. Looking inside, he saw his two siblings and the grey-armored Coal sitting on a couch. On the other side of the room stood Taggs, with his arms crossed, and Reaper, whose body below the chin was hidden by a heavy brown cloak. Midnight was hardly fazed by the sight of the bleached eyes and lightly-scarred face, and Tome seemed overjoyed at the spectacle.

"Reaper!" he cried out. "How's it going, bro?"

The frightening Eternal shrugged in response. "Same ol', same ol'. What about you?"

Speedily, the red-and-blue armored Eternal took a seat in the only vacant chair in the small room. "I'm doing well; just spent a night with Middy here in the desert." Suddenly, everybody in the room gave Midnight an 'I'm so sorry' look. The purple-clad Locke sibling shrugged his weary shoulders and leaned against a wall for support. He was used to standing, but would dearly love a place to sit after trekking through the desert with Tome.

Taggs' eyes swept the room. "Everybody's here then," he said. "I suppose we can begin."

"Right," Coal said, sighing as he got up from his seat, a seat that Midnight quickly slipped into just after the grey-armored Eternal moved. "We couldn't get in touch with Rook or Nox; Calibur must have chased the former off, and the latter we've never been able to find if he doesn't want to be found."

The cloaked Eternal nodded. "I pinged them, but didn't get a response."

"We'll have to make-do without them," Taggs stated. "Coal, any ideas?"

Coal shrugged. "Hit 'em hard where it hurts, I guess. We know from Reaper's contact that Calibur is in the Detroit base, and that's not very well defended. It'll take them at least two minutes to call in reinforcements from Lansing, and even longer if they get them from somewhere else. In that time, we should be able to tear into the bastard's office and kill him. Getting out will be a piece of cake."

"Hold up," Reaper interjected. "We're dragging along extra baggage." He motioned to the Lockes sitting on the couch, and both Shandor and Lafteroth huffed indignantly in response, the former taking the opportunity to flip off the scary-looking Eternal. The cloaked Eternal suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to break the raven-haired Locke's hand off.

"They can stay out of the way," Taggs said. "If it comes down to it, they can be our backup, but otherwise they should probably wait outside." The black-and-gold Eternal had shown signs of softening since his return ten minutes ago, but not by much. However, Lafteroth could detect the concern in his voice, most likely over their safety. But Reaper's sudden response changed her own worry into seething hatred.

"But they're Hunters! They can't be trusted behind our backs."

Taggs rolled his eyes and let loose a frustrated sigh, looking to Coal for some assistance. But the steely look in his other brother's eyes made it apparent that the grey-armored Eternal felt the same, if not as radically so.

"I'm overriding that," the black-and-gold Eternal said smugly. "Remember, I'm second in command, and I say we're going to have to trust them with covering our sixes." That said, any arguments from the other two Eternals were immediately silenced. Shandor leaned close to Tome.

"What the hell is he talking about, 'second in command'?" he hissed into what he guessed was the helmeted Eternal's ear.

"Back when all eight of us were around," Tome whispered back, "Bane was the commander of our little unit. He appointed Taggs as his second in command; Coal was initially hurt, but Bane said that Taggs' compassion made him a better choice. Even after his death, though, big bro refuses to call himself 'commander'. Instead, he still says that he's only second in command."

Lafteroth was the next to inquire. "Why was it only a choice between Taggs and Coal?"

"They're command-types," the red-and-blue armored Eternal replied. "They were built especially to lead units of Reploids and also have a myriad of their own talents." The ivory-headed Locke nodded, satisfied, and leaned back into the couch. She glanced over at her brothers, and noticed that Midnight was curiously silent. Not that he was that big of a talker, anyway.

"Look, my plan is simple," Coal insisted, breaking Lafteroth's reverie, making her realize she had missed large pieces of the conversation. "We go in, kill anything and everything that moves, kill Calibur, and leave. We don't need a more complicated plan!"

"I like my plan better," Reaper pouted, a very uncharacteristic thing for him to do.

"'Break in like Solid Snake and neutralize the enemy'?!" Coal shot back. "That was your brilliant plan?! You're an idiot!" The bleach-eyed Reploid snarled a challenge and lunged forward to attack his brother. Coal repeated the maneuver, but both were stopped by physical restraint and stern glares from Taggs.

"_Knock that the fuck off!_" he roared, and immediately both Eternals retreated. "What the hell is wrong with you?! I know you're upset that Chance is dead, but you can _not_ afford to take it out on each other! We need everyone in their right minds if we're going to get the real culprit here." The Lockes observed this scene intently, noting that Taggs was genuinely enraged and Coal was also apologetic, though he wouldn't speak it. Lafteroth also noticed that Reaper, for the first time, looked truly sorrowful, his blank optics showing signs of a deep regret of what he had done.

Silence prevailed for a two full minutes. Finally, the two previously-conflicting Eternals seemed to have repented enough for Taggs to begin speaking again. "We'll go with Coal's plan, since it's simple and it's more likely to work. However, before we go to Detroit, there's one place I want to visit first..."

* * *

**Cain Labs, Michigan; United States of America**

**07:45 March 12th, 2151**

The three teleport beams struck the ground outside the building's main entrance, revealing seven Reploids. Lafteroth, having had the most rest out of anybody capable of teleporting, had undertaken the strain of having both Taggs and Tome piggyback her signal. The final result left her weak, but her two companions arrived safely and in one piece, so she considered it worth the fatigue. Reaper, who had piggybacked Midnight's signal, violently pushed himself away from the required physical contact with the mercenary.

"Ugh!" he retched. "Hunter reek! I'm going to have to burn this cloak in order to rid myself of that stench." The purple-clad Locke merely regarded the Eternal with his deep purple eyes. Somehow, the bleached eyes of the cloaked Eternal were able to betray more rage and anger than any sort of normal optics. He found it fascinating, but his "passenger" obviously didn't share that viewpoint.

If Taggs was aware of the small spat occurring, he gave no sign of it. "The armory here should have more than enough equipment to sustain our little assault," he said. "Now, we might have to fight a bit to get in, but--"

A cry from inside cut him off. "Taggs!" Artemis's voice burst rang clear as a bell as the body attached to it threw open the doors to the building and came striding out to meet them. "It's so good to see you!" The human affectionately wrapped his arms around the six-and-a-half-foot-tall mass of metal and gears and hugged tightly. Taggs felt the pressure, and reacted only by shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Yeah, great to see you too, Artemis," he muttered awkwardly, attempting to gently break free of the bear hug. "What's up?"

"You, of course!" he said in response, seemingly giddy. "Calibur's report went through to HQ just a little while ago! You've been acquitted of all the charges!"

At this, the Eternals cocked their heads. Surely Calibur hadn't just given up like that. "I'd like to see a computer terminal for a moment, Artemis," Coal spoke up. The biological son of Cain nodded and led them into the building and up to the secretary's computer. She gladly gave way to the small crowd, and the grey-armored Eternal quickly seated himself and began furiously typing away. Finally, after a moment of searching through the database, he shook his head.

"Negative," he reported. "The charges haven't been dropped from the database. It's a trick, a ruse to lure us out into the open so that bastard can move in and kill us."

Artemis seemed confused, and Taggs took notice of this. "Tome," he said over his shoulder. "Tell Artemis what's happened so far, but make it the short version. We don't have a lot of time before our presence registers on this building's sensors and Calibur's team is all over us." Nodding, the red-and-blue armored Eternal quickly recanted the story of their betrayal and the silver-and-blue commander's desire to eliminate them. Cain seemed incredulous at first, but was slowly convinced of the truth. Immediately, he turned to his secretary, his sunny disposition forgotten.

"Quickly, before security can react! Shut down the sensors, kill all outgoing signals to the Hunter base in Detroit, and reprogram the system to ignore the Eternals." She looked ready to protest, but the young scientist shot her a look that might've dented titanium. Gulping, she shoved Coal out of her chair and immediately went to work.

"We need to get to the armory right now," Taggs said urgently. Artemis nodded and led them down a couple of levels to a heavily guarded room. After waving his badge at the Hunter guards (who hadn't been able to get a warning signal from the base), the eight people entered the room. From wall to wall were lined tools of destruction: files of buster rifles, stacks of grenade and plasma launchers, a seemingly endless supply of hand-thrown explosives, and those were just the very tip of the iceberg. Beam weaponry, solid projectiles, nothing seemed to be excluded from the piles of weapons. The group immediately started finding their way through the instruments of war.

"Taggs!" Tome once let out an excited shout, to which the black-and-gold armored Eternal ran. When he arrived, he found his little brother bearing a device he never thought he'd see again: his old arm-buster variation. Way back during his training, Nox had severely damaged the buster-transformers in his wrists when in Overdrive, but the actual function of the weapons hadn't been affected. Good old Xavier Cain had come up with an alternative: he created this mini-barrel for Taggs to hold that also directly connected to the energy flow from his built-in weapon. Looking at his current gauntlet, he realized the set-up wasn't compatible, plus his Magnum Buster was much more powerful and fed directly off his Eternal Core energy. Still, it was a nice little reminder of better days, so he set it aside in order to retrieve it later.

The group continued to search, picking out weapons and items to use. Taggs, aside from the small keepsake, found himself a suit of heavy Hunter armor. It had a teleportation device built into it, as well as a small thruster pack on the back and what users liked to call "wide joints": they allowed a normal range of movement, but bulked up the chest, legs, and arms. Coal, not interested in wasting his strength on something defensive, found a plasma launcher and a handful of grenades, complete with a bandolier. Reaper howled in frustration at his inability to find a beam scythe, and pestered Artemis for one in vain. Tome opted out, instead finding his way to the Lockes who seemed lost amidst the equipment.

"Come on!" he crowed cheerfully. "What are you slackers waiting for? Grab something you like!"

Each eyed him with a sharp look that made him flinch, though his armor didn't move a bit. "What? What did I say?"

"We're being swept under the rug, you idiot!" Shandor snapped at him. "You guys want us to wait outside while you do your whole 'avenging' thing. We'll be practically useless, so we don't have to take equipment." The red-and-blue armored had to agree with that: the plan was to leave the Lockes out of harms way so the Eternals could rampage without worrying about hurting their allies. If it came to going over 700, which was most likely going to be the case, they didn't want their mercenary friends anywhere nearby.

Of course, this decision had been made by Taggs, and Tome knew all too well exactly what drove that choice in tactics.

Wisely keeping that comment to himself, the red-and-blue armored Eternal left the conversation where it was and wandered off to see if maybe he could find something he liked. The search ultimately proved futile, but when he returned from strolling the aisles upon aisles of ordinance, he found the group all set to go. Taggs, decked out in his Hunter-colored armor, was a complete and utter color-clasher, but didn't seem to mind.

"Tome, you find anything?" he queried, checking the power readouts on the wrist monitor of the heavy unit he wore.

"Nah, nothing," he admitted. "So I take it we're all set to get moving?"

Coal nodded. "Yeah, all set. Everybody remember the plan?"

"Yeah," Reaper said. "Blow shit up and kill everything that moves."

"...and stay out of the way," Shandor said dejectedly. Taggs stole a glance at Lafteroth, and she returned the gaze. Quickly, however, he pulled his eyes away from hers and refocused them on his brothers.

"Okay... let's get going!"


	25. Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

**Hunter Outpost 0918; Germany**

**00:09 June 27th, 2140**

_All was quiet in the world of the Hunters versus the Mavericks. Doppler's rebellion had been put down a few years ago, and Repliforce was beginning to overtake the Maverick Hunters in popularity and use. This was, of course, just fine for Barj, the resident techie for Outpost 0918. A long time ago, he would be running about collecting information and data about the next Maverick base that his squad was supposed to attack; now, he could lounge about all day in his grey-and-green armor and read magazines, a habit that he was currently indulging himself in._

_His former chores, that of maintaining the software of the base, had been delegated to their latest piece of equipment: the Eye of Rokirn, or Rok as it... no, as /ihei preferred to be called. The small glowing ball of technological wonders hovered about the base lazily, constantly linked directly to the network and controlling it via wireless connection. When he needed recharge, Rok would dock with a special port and regain energy while still directing the system's activities. Recently the entire base decided to route full control over the computers to Rok, which proved an excellent maneuver: everything ran smoother and more efficiently than before. Barj still had his doubts about fully relying on the small construct for everything electronic, but even he had to admit the benefits seemed to outweigh the risks._

_Just as Barj turned to a new page in order to continue reading an article, the front door of the base was slammed open as if by a sudden gust of wind. This seemed strange to the Reploid for a couple of reasons: 1.) it really didn't get that windy in this forest, what with all the trees to curb airflow, and 2.) the door was a magnetically-sealed quarter of a ton slab of titanium. It wasn't easy to blow one of those open, even with a small thermonuclear device. Just as Barj considered looking up from the engrossing editorial to examine this unusual phenomenon, a shining steel scythe cut through the spine of the magazine, entered his face, and sliced his electronic brain in two. Less than a second later, the blade had been removed and swung once again, this time straight through the Reploid's neck._

_Two minutes later, a scream echoed through the hallways of Outpost 0918 as Mohara, the squad's sniper and range expert, stumbled upon the grisly scene. At the cry, the remaining base personnel minus one came rushing to find out what was going on, and they too had to fight back ripples of revulsion at the sight before them. Sparing the details of the gruesome murder, a crude and obscene message had been written on the wall in the circulatory fluid of the technician._

_"'I shall end you'," Rok read the message aloud. "How original."_

_"Can't you show just a little more emotion?!" Mohara practically screamed through her tears, then burst into renewed sobbing that shook her shoulders. "Oh God... oh God... I can't believe it... he's dead... blood everywhere..."_

_"Damn," base commander Balent swore, examining the body. "Poor Barj, his brain was cut right in half... there's no way we can revive him... Rok, any idea who did this?"_

_The floating ball of a Reploid hummed for a moment as he processed it. "Yes," he said as his holographic projector came online. "The culprit moved extremely fast, but the security recorders managed to capture an image of the one responsible." A three-dimensional scene, frozen in time, appeared and hovered a few feet in front of Rok. A Reploid was caught rushing through the open door: he wore a heavy cloak over most of his body, but a single arm extended from within the folds, covered with a silver gauntlet, and clutched a large steel scythe that was already swinging. The top of his head was adorned with a strange helmet, silver and black and blue in color. The helmet had a fin on either side with four spiked points protruding outward. Of course, the most surprising aspect of Barj's murderer was his eyes: they were completely white. And, if the image could be trusted, he was smiling as he swung the weapon._

_"Oh my God..." Mohara whispered, her sorrow forgotten and replaced by overwhelming horror. "Who is that?!"_

_"Scanning database," Rok replied, paused for a second, and then gave the report: "No know Reploid matching this description has been found. Whoever it is, he's out of the system."_

_"Is he still here?" Balent queried next._

_"Affirmative. No motion was detected passing through any of the exits following the attack."_

_The blonde commander rubbed his chin in thought. "Then his work obviously isn't done... he must be here to eliminate us all. This Maverick certainly knows what he's doing. Rok, what do you think?"_

_Rok bobbed slightly in the air. "Well, this kill wasn't made haphazardly. He specifically went for the head, because if he had gone for the core it would have caused an explosion which would have alerted us too early, so he's being strategic about this. Most likely he doesn't even realize that we know, so he must be heading for the generators to cut off power."_

_"Great," Balent muttered. "We'll have to stay one step ahead of him if we want to get out of this one alive. Mohara, go get Culan out of his shower, and--" He didn't finish his sentence, for suddenly the lights went out. The sniper let out a slight whimper, and the blue X-series commander felt worry for the first time over her. Normally, the female Hunter was a cold and unshakeable person, but the death of one of her long-time comrades in her very own base must have shocked her something bad to warrant this kind of behavior. He decided now would be a good a time as any to begin comforting her._

_"Don't worry, Mo," he said, using her nickname in an attempt to soothe her ravaged soul. "The auxiliary power will kick on any second now, and then we can get this guy for what he's done to Barj."_

_"I want Culan... I want Culan..." she repeated quietly._

_"Rok, where the hell is that backup power?"_

_There was silence as the blue light that made the Reploid's eye glow brighter for an instant. "The auxiliary generator has been disabled," he said at last with a hint of despondency in it. "Emergency lights are coming online now." The entire base was suddenly awash with a frightening red light that did little to alleviate the tenseness of the situation. Each emergency light was powered by its own individual power source, so they could not be knocked out in the case of a crisis._

_Balent fervently let loose a long string of cuss words. "Rok! Give us another goddamned option! And scan the base for where this guy is! Thermals, motion detectors, whatever!"_

_"Motion detectors have been knocked offline," the floating Reploid said, irritation evident in his voice. "And those two fins on his helmet are some type of advanced heat sink; they're completely displacing the heat around him, making it impossible to detect him. We'll just have to use our eyes."_

_"Easier said than done," the commander growled, forming his buster on the end of his arm. "Mohara, stay close. Rok, calculate the next best option." Before a response could be garnered from either person, however, there was a sudden sound of metal shearing through metal, and Balent turned to see what the cause was. His eyes went wide when he did: Rok remained suspended in midair for only a second before his two halves, cut vertically, clattered loudly to the floor. His internal systems sparked a couple of times in an ignoble farewell before he went completely dark._

_"Fuck!" Balent cried out as he began wildly firing at the intruder, but he had dissolved into the shadows before any of the shots could have reached him. Mohara just sat on the ground, staring in total shock at the mess of twisted metal that had been the base's computer just moments before. She could hardly believe it: two of her best friends in the entire world were dead less than five minutes apart. She felt like her entire world was coming apart at the seams. Inwardly, she screamed at her weakness: she was not a close-quarters combat fighter, and had only relied on her ranged weapons. She had no swords or any sort of melee weapon._

_"God dammit, Mohara!" her commander's voice cut through the shroud surrounding her. "Go get Culan! I'll try to get to the communications console!"_

_"Is that still functioning?" she asked as she got up and prepared to bolt._

_"Yeah, it's got its own power source," he replied. "Now GO!" She nodded, spun on her heel, and took off down the appropriate hallway. She had to get to Culan, her boyfriend, before that freak did. If she could warn him, he would be able to take him out. While Culan was a massive powerhouse, he was pretty smart and even good at close range._

_She heard Balent's firing cease, but didn't hear him scream, so she assumed he had gone for the comm. unit. As she poured on the speed, she suddenly felt a presence directly behind her, and she spun around and fell backwards, firing her buster. The plasma illuminated the psycho's visage, a twisted demonic look on his face, but the shots either went wild or were easily dodged. He closed in, and swung his scythe up, slicing deep into her torso. A choked cry tried to make it out of her throat, but the blade took care of that too: it cut halfway through her neck, and the sound dissipated. She collapsed against a wall in a sitting position, looking down in her last moments of life at her blood-soaked body. A small lightshow was erupting from the center of her chest, where the blade had nicked the containment field of her power core and the energy was escaping. It wasn't enough to cause an explosion, but it would kill her within the minute._

_As her vision went black, she couldn't shake the horror of what had just happened, and knew that wherever she would end up after Death's icy grip took her would not be as bad as what she had seen in that Reploid's eyes._

_Just a few minutes later, Balent was working furiously on the communications console when a tortured scream interrupted his movements. He recognized the voice: Culan. That bastard had gotten Culan, which meant Mohara was dead too. Pushing his overwhelming sorrow and fear to the back of his mind, he continued typing quickly, ignoring the mistakes he was making. He had to get the message out, had to get reinforcements. As he pushed the "Uplink" button, a horrifying message appeared:_

_**ANTENNA ARRAY OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE REPAIR.**_

_He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. He hit the button again, but the same message popped up. Repeating the maneuver yielded the same results, and after roughly ten presses of the button, he put his head in his hands and wailed in despair. The intruder had obviously disabled the communications before entering, and he had never even thought of it! In the panic of the moment, his common sense had failed him, a failure that had already cost him the lives of all his squad mates._

_An unsuppressed footstep caused him to look up in horror at the Reploid standing in front of him: the intruder. He stood there, scythe in hand, like some kind of bastardized version of an angel, of Death Himself. The weapon gleamed brilliantly, despite the dark stains that dripped from it, and those pure white eyes burrowed deep into Balent's soul and brought only fear and anxiety to the surface._

_"Who..." he stammered, involuntary backing away from the Reploid, "Who are you? What are you?" In a flash, the cloaked intruder had crossed the distance between the Hunter and himself. Balent fell back, but not in the same way Mohara had: he was now prone, now totally victim to every whim of his soon-to-be murderer. The pale white eyes continued to stare down at him, emotionless, even when the Reploid spoke with such vehemence it could have killed on its own._

_"I?" he hissed. "I am the embodiment of all your sins. The Hunters have taken everything from me, everything that made my life worth living. Now I live in hypocrisy, my existence a joke to the merciful God, a tortured remnant of what I once was." The scythe was slowly raised over his head, poised to fall down into the vulnerable Hunter. "I am Reaper Eternal, and I am here to deliver unto you free passage to the Other World."_

_The last image ever to cross Balent's mind was that of the thin blade falling into his skull. Then he, and the last of the Hunters of Outpost 0918, was no more._

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**08:00 March 12th, 2151**

Seven distinctly-colored teleport beams touched down on the plaza outside the Maverick Hunter base, dispersing the light mist that hung in the air around them. It was early in the morning, and the reddened tip of the sun was visible just over the horizon. Most of the people milling about hardly flinched: they supposed from the look of the soldiers that it was another Hunter team coming back from a night mission, though they had strangely gotten the coordinates for landing inside the base wrong.

After completely forming, three of the seven Eternals pocketed the small teleportation devices that had been supplied to them by Artemis Cain, knowing that they would need them to teleport back once they had completed their mission. Reaper, however, chucked his into a bush with a huff. He would not hang on to Hunter technology longer than necessary, and decided he would come back for it later if he needed it.

Surveying the area, the cloaked Eternal couldn't help but smirk. A little less than eleven years ago he had sacked a Hunter outpost and used it as a dwelling. Now he was about to repeat the maneuver, except this was a full-scale base and he had no intention of hanging around after it had been cleared out. His brothers may have intended to kill only one target before leaving, but Reaper knew better: once they were beyond 700, they would kill anything that moved. A demented smile crossed his face in anticipation of that feeling, of the absolute freedom and power of the Eternal Core's energy flowing through him.

With a single hand motion, Taggs sent the Lockes reluctantly off to the sidelines. Then, looking over his brothers, he said two words: "Let's roll." The three others nodded as one and marched through the doors of the building, and a moment later, the fireworks began.


	26. Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**08:01 March 12th, 2151**

As soon as the Eternals burst through the doors to the Maverick Hunter base lobby, everything inside turned to pandemonium. Tome and Coal began the process by immediately opening fire into the crowd of Hunters and civilians ahead. Their shots, well placed due to years of training and practice, struck only the combat personnel and scared the non-Hunters, but with their cores steadily rising past 400, the ruthless killing of everything was soon to follow. Taggs and Reaper both drew their melee weapons with such a flourish that the two secretaries standing near them suffered a sudden lack of limb. The two close-quarter fighters pushed their Eternal Cores harder than their brothers, and they quickly passed the 700 mark and settled at an even 780. Their worlds turned red, and anything that moved, save their kin, was cut down quickly but not necessarily painlessly.

The fight in the lobby was over quickly, and all the Eternals soon equalized their core levels. None of the Hunters on duty had a chance to put out a call, but the security cameras that hung from the ceiling in the corners of nearly every room ensured that their bloody swathe of destruction would not go unnoticed. After all, if their prey had no idea they were coming, where was the fun?

The four split up, reverting to their most basic instincts of acting alone. Each took a separate corridor and proceeded to spread throughout the base like a cancer, moving up levels and slaughtering anyone and anything that stood between them and their target: Calibur. Along the way, Coal managed to regain control long enough to send a labeled map of the base to all his brothers' combat systems, and suddenly the separate routes might as well have been painted on the floors.

On the second floor, Taggs happened upon a Huntress frantically trying to connect to an outside communications line. He quietly approached her without her realizing he was there, and as she reached someone and began to plead for help, he lunged.

* * *

**Maverick Hunters World Headquarters, New York, New York; United States of America**

**8:07 March 12th, 2151**

Commander X sat in the control room, surrounded by personnel and computers. He sipped lightly at a mug of coffee in his hands: he hated coming in so early in the morning, but with Signas still on vacation in the Bahamas until next week, he had to work a full day as the acting Hunter Commander. His sharpened combat senses could hear the sounds of keys clicking, chairs flexing, and people yawning. While he detested fighting, the reflexes and heightened sense allowed him to pick up unusual fluctuations in the natural rhythm of things, such as the sudden pause one of the comm. officers made.

"Sir," he spoke, "Incoming transmission from the Detroit base. It's marked with a black flag." Normally, most messages would be routed through to representatives, but the black flag caused X to straighten in his chair. Their messages were color-coded for easy sorting, based on urgency: white was all's-clear, blue was something medical, green was something scientific, yellow meant a military movement, red meant a base alert, and black meant an attack on a Hunter facility. A nameless fear suddenly stirred in the commander's heart.

However, he was mindful of the communication protocols. "Put it on my personal screen," he told the comm. officer, and looked down at the console in front of him. The panic-stricken face of a female Hunter flashed into view.

"This is the Detroit Maverick Hunter base!" she said hurriedly, sweat dripping down her face in buckets. Her eyes darted nervously from side to side as she began to hyperventilate. "We're under attack! Four Reploids stormed through our lobby and began to assault everyone stationed here! Almost everyone on the first floor is dead already! You have to--" She was suddenly cut off (literally) as a yellow energy blade sliced through the top half of her head, spraying blood droplets across the screen. The Huntress's lifeless body toppled to the ground, and a new face filled the screen.

X's breath caught in his throat, and he uttered something that fell somewhere between a choke and a curse. He recognized the face instantly: it was Taggs. However, his eyes were much different. This wasn't the scary-yet-silent Reploid with blue with gold-flecks eyes he had seen in the briefing room only yesterday; this was the raging, homicidal Eternal that he had seen almost eleven years ago...

* * *

_**Grand Central Station, New York, New York; United States of America**_

_**11:39 June 28th, 2140**_

_The report that there had been a Maverick attack in New York City was a paranoia-inducing one at best: the fact that an infected Reploid could slip into the very city that housed the world headquarters of the organization dedicated to removing them floored even the best political figures, but the Maverick Hunters were quick to respond to the attack itself._

_As Megaman X teleported in, he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to see: countless small-time Mavericks, mass carnage and property damage, and one big one that would hold the key to a new Maverick uprising. The beam of light that contained his data burst open and he materialized, opening his eyes as he did so, and was shocked at what was waiting for him. The entire station still shone with the semblance of a sophisticated place, with none of its massive supporting pillars or miscellaneous objects about the large space out of order. Admittedly, there were a few dead bodies here and there, mostly Reploid with one or two humans, but there was little mess. And, standing in the middle of the gargantuous chamber, was a single Reploid. He wore blue and gold armor that resembled X's own, but with red trimming here and there. The intruder was facing away from the Hunter, but spoke regardless:_

_"I heard about what you and your ilk did to my brother," he spoke coolly. X was momentarily caught off guard: few Mavericks spoke so smoothly, so eloquently. Confusing words like "ilk" rarely emerged from their mouths. "Or, rather, my brothers. You took one's life, one's sanity, and one's love. These are crimes that deserve to be punished." The intruder whirled around quickly and locked eyes with X. They were a calm blue with golden flecks in them, but behind the distractingly soothing irises lay a fire that smoldered with rage._

_A hissing sound suddenly caught the Blue Bomber's attention, and he realized for the first time that this Reploid before him clutched an ignited beam saber in his hand. X's buster was up in an instant and leveled at the Reploid's head. "Put your weapon down, Maverick," he said calmly but insistently. He knew how dangerous the blades made of energy could be, and was in no mood to find himself once again on the business end of one._

_"I'm no Maverick," the Reploid protested, though he deactivated the weapon and let the hilt fall from his fingers to clatter loudly on the ground. "I'm just out for revenge."_

_Suddenly, the distance between them vanished. X wasn't sure if the Maverick moved to him or he moved to it, but either way, they ended up grappling, the Hunter at a slight disadvantage as one of his arms was still formed into his buster. The Blue Bomber gritted his teeth against the surprising strength of this attacker and looked into his eyes. He was getting stronger with each passing second, and X could see the gold flecks begin to expand and cover his entire iris. When that process was completed, the Maverick gave an almost effortless heave and sent X flying. He crashed into the ground and skidded backward on the slick floor, but when he came to a stop, his arm cannon was up and firing._

_The Maverick moved impossibly fast, easily maneuvering around the fired plasma shots, even scooping up his beam sword when rolling under a volley. He leapt up into the air, the dash thrusters on the undersides of his boots firing a burst and propelling him even higher and faster. X struggled to keep his aim straight and true, but none of the shots seemed to hit him; when they did, he merely shrugged them off. The blue-and-gold menace came falling out of the sky, sword at the ready to impale X where he lay, but the Hunter rolled out of the way with plenty of time. He began charging his weapon as the Maverick picked himself up and prepared for another attack. Once the energy in his buster maxed out, he let loose the insanely powerful plasma. His opponent's eyes went wide and he tried to dodge, but caught the brunt in his left shoulder. There was a large flash of light, and when the spots cleared from X's vision he saw the Maverick clutching a large burn wound that seemed to go right through his armor._

_"...impressive, Little Boy Blue," he sneered. "I didn't think you had it in you." Suddenly, he straightened his posture and removed his hand. Indeed, the blast had sheared away several layers of the titanium substance that protected his shoulder and even past his synthetic flesh, revealing a mass of singed wires and servos that whined slightly in complaint to his motions. However, he stood as if the injury wasn't even there._

_X didn't have time to voice his disbelief over this fact, however, as the Maverick rushed forward once more. However, this time, the sapphire Hunter was ready. He ducked low and thrust forward, catching the oncoming enemy in a body slam. He wrapped his arm around his waist, hoisted, and jumped backwards. The Maverick's blue-and-gold helmet was smashed green-gem first into the floor. He cried out in pain, but X wasn't done yet: he whirled around and fired four or five low-power shots into his back. Once more, the form in front of him yelped, but more in surprise than pain this time. He whipped around, bringing out his leg and tripping the Hunter. With a jump, he landed on top of X and immediately went for his throat. The Blue Bomber once again found himself looking up into his assailant's eyes, but they were no longer solid gold: they now appeared to be heated around the edges, like nuggets smoldering in a kiln awaiting to be shaped by the skilled hands of a craftsman. However, the Hunter mused little on such things, instead focusing on his current predicament. He brought his buster up once more, but found the range was too close to fire into the Maverick's head. So, working with what he could, he shot the Reploid in the side, where the only thing protecting him was a golden jumpsuit. The attacker rolled off of him and sprang to his feet, lunging yet again at X._

_The battle continued in earnest, though while the Hunter was steadily being worn out from the stress of the battle, his target fought like a thing possessed and refused to give any quarter. It livened up when, after a particularly forcive kick landed the Maverick on the other side of the station, and he drew a peculiar weapon. It resembled a buster; in fact, it highly resembled the pistols that were given to human Hunters for defense. However, it was hand-held, like the busters used for humans. A shot rang out, but before he even heard it, a small but powerful plasma bullet struck his chest and sent him stumbling back. He looked down in surprise to see a small, smoking hole burned straight through his armor. Before he could react, the dastardly act was repeated, except this time the shot struck his unarmored upper-leg. Crying out in pain, X dropped to one knee and clutched the wound. He pulled his hands away for an instant, and noticed his blood staining his white gloves. Unlike most plasma weapons, this one wasn't new or even upgraded and did not cauterize. He suppressed a cry and squeezed tighter, allowing the pressure to alleviate the pain._

_He heard heavy footfalls as the Maverick approached, and concocted a sneaky yet obvious plan for getting the drop on him. All he could do was hope that his assailant was too wrapped-up in the "I've won" frame of mind to notice. Finally, the feet stopped just before him, and a hand roughly seized him by the neck and pulled him upwards until he was eye-level. Once again, his eyes had changed to burning embers of bronze and gold that glowed red around the edges, but white-hot in the middle. He had a crazy, insane grin on his face._

_"Wh-who are you?" X coughed out. Perhaps a little overdramatic, but his "captor" didn't seem to notice._

_"As I said before, I'm merely out for revenge," his enemy stated, "But if you must know, my name is Taggs Eternal." Eternal. Dammit, X should've realized from the raw power. Instead, however, he just cracked a smile of his own._

_"Well, Mr. Eternal, I hope you realize you've made a huge mistake," the Blue Bomber said smugly, raising his arm cannon level to his head. "You've taken too many dramatics." X released a stealth-charge shot, knowing the back-blast would cause him some damage, but nothing Dr. Cain couldn't fix. However, he was horrified to see that Taggs' head moved quickly out of the way, and the plasma charge harmlessly (sort of) impacted the far wall, blowing a large chunk of it to atoms._

_"You're mistake was assuming that I made one," Taggs growled in response, before slamming X into the ground. The wind was knocked out of the Hunter, and as he lay there trying to get a breath, the blue-and-gold Eternal withdrew his beam sword, activated it, and then slammed it down into the Blue Bomber's shoulder. He cried out in pain, and Taggs' twisted grimace quickly turned into a smile._

_"I'm feeling merciful today," he said matter-of-factly. "I like you, Little Boy Blue, and I want to fight you in the future when I'm having a bad day. It'll probably cheer me up." With that said, he activated his dash thrusters and took off into one of the many subway tunnels, leaving Megaman X pinned to the ground and awaiting a backup unit to arrive._

* * *

**Maverick Hunters World Headquarters, New York, New York; United States of America**

**08:08 March 12th, 2151**

Now X found himself once again facing down those smoldering eyes, the ones that literally burned with white-hot intensity and hatred. The deep-seeded anger towards the Hunters was well understood by X: he himself had been the one who delivered the death-blow to Bane, but he didn't know if they knew that. Instead, all the Hunters were hated equally. But Taggs always seemed to have it in especially for them.

"If you value the lives of your men, Little Boy Blue," Taggs said, staring directly at him, "You will not interfere." There was a small flare from the bottom portion of the screen, and the transmission winked out of existence. X sat back, stunned. Why were they doing this? Calibur's report had been clear: they had been pardoned, completely pardoned. Even though Chance did end up dying in the end, had they not been rewarded. Quickly calling up the criminal records of the suspected Mavericks, the commander found his answer: no. The charges hadn't been cleared yet.

Somewhere inside, he was seething with rage, but the rest of his mind wanted to rationalize: maybe Calibur just hadn't gotten around to it yet? But that didn't matter: the men and women of the Detroit base were dying, and he needed to do something about it. He turned to the comm. officer.

"Put out a call for Units Nine, Thirteen, and Thirty-Three," he ordered. "And call in Axl; I want him to lead them to the Detroit base and assist with taking it back. We don't know how many of the Eternals are attacking, but we have to assume the worst, so tell them to pack the big guns." The officer nodded and began making the calls, leaving X to his inner musings. _Whatever the cause of this_, he thought coldly, _the Eternal brothers won't have an opportunity to explain it._


	27. Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**08:11 March 12th, 2151**

Shandor and Midnight Locke sat in the bushes, looking out towards the base and observing the activities going on there. When the first shot was fired, the non-coms scattered and the Hunters charged into their own base. However, neither of the Locke bots questioned whether or not the Eternals had taken care of them. A few more scattered teams had teleported in since then, but they were in various states of disarray, obviously having pulled themselves out of conflicts to come to the aid of their base. These teams went in but never came out.

Lafteroth, on the other hand, sat further inside the bushes and sulked. She felt a little underappreciated: sure, the Eternals were like a whole different class of combat Reploids, designed to brutally and efficiently kill, but that didn't make her or her siblings entirely useless! They could have handled deactivating the base's automatic defenses, or ran a distraction, or... or...

She flipped a strand of white hair out of her face, her hand brushing one of her ice-blue eyestreaks as she did so. Unlike last time, however, it didn't feel freezing cold: it was piping hot. She blew on the small burn on her hand, and it quickly disappeared. Scowling, she reasoned that she was far more advanced than even the Eternals, what with being as close to biological as a mechanical creation could get, but she was a thousand times better than even the best human fighter. She possessed a wide range of beam weaponry, a powerful program buster, and a temperature control system! In addition, she could form new or needed appendages thanks to the nanites that helped keep her body running: wings, a tail, even another arm or two.

Her internal contemplation was interrupted by an eager whisper from Shandor. "Look at these guys!" her raven-haired brother hissed. "Now these guys look like they could give the Eternals some trouble..." Momentarily dropping her rationalization, she crept forward and peered out between the leaves, and was met with the sight of several silver-armored Hunters just completing their teleport sequence. All three of the Lockes immediately recognized what the make and color of the armor meant: elite Hunters, called in only during the most dire of situations. They were ruthlessly efficient, known for their ability to accomplish objectives in record time, but despite her raven-haired brother's observation, Lafteroth had little doubt that the Eternals could make short work of them.

The captain of the unit began to shout orders, and the white-haired Locke immediately recognized the voice. "Break the equipment out of the containers! We have to be inside within a minute if we want to prevent any more lost lives!" His voice was powerful, but behind it was a feeling of calmness and kindness, one that Lafteroth had long since learned to distinguish from any other Hunter's voice.

"Siggy," she half-whispered. Midnight looked at her in puzzlement.

"Singol is here?" he queried.

"That's his voice. I know it," she replied, not taking her eyes off the Hunters in front of them. She reasoned that if Singol was there, then Blu and Alriik should also be among the soldiers gearing up, but she couldn't pick either apart from the rest of the crowd: all their armor was identical.

The elite units spread out quickly, each taking an entrance, with Singol's unit going in through the lobby. The Lockes watched on as their allies for several missions prior entered the building where the four Eternal brothers were, and suddenly, they didn't know which side to root for anymore.

* * *

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**08:16 March 12th, 2151**

Reaper was having the time of his life. The feeling of exhilaration, brought on by rushing through the corridors and blitzing into rooms to bring about swift death, filled him with nostalgia and happiness like he had never known before. He faltered for a nanosecond: no, he _had_ known happiness like this before. He had even known happiness _greater_ than this, but the Hunters had stolen that away. It was all the Hunters' fault, all of it. His pain, his misery... with an aggravated cry, he swung his scythe and viciously gutted a file attendant in front of him and whipped it around to slice through the neck of a Hunter security guard coming up on his right. Another scream was followed by him picking up a file cabinet and hurling it with all his might through a wall, leaping over into the next room to continue his carnage.

To his disappointment, there was nobody in the next room, and nothing good to smash another wall with, so he burst through the door and into the hallway. Immediately the automatic base defense turrets attempted to track him, but the heat sinks on his helmet kept them from getting a thermal lock, his billowing cloak screwed with their motion detector due to its erratic movements, and it was impossible to draw a visual bead on him when he hopped from shadow to shadow with blinding speed. None of the turrets in the hall ever fired a shot, instead having their insides torn out by Reaper's gloved hand. He cackled with glee, and moved to get to the next sector, possibly where his primary prey was waiting...

A wave of electricity suddenly washed over him, paralyzing his movements for a moment. In that moment, several plasma shots struck his back, causing him to cry out in pain, an emotion he hadn't known physically for a long time. As soon as the effects of the stun blast wore off, he whirled around, scythe at the ready. Two Hunters in silver armor stood behind him, busters raised and charging.

"If you think I'm going to surrender," the insane Eternal muttered, "You are in for a large shock."

"Good," replied one of the Hunters. "Because we weren't going to ask you."

Reaper gave a hearty shout and leapt into the air towards the pair. He landed right in front of them, nimbly dodged a blast aimed for his face, and swung his scythe. He expected the expertly-crafted titanium blade to slice through their armor, to rend their flesh and to expose the true nature of the Reploid body to the world. However, this wasn't to be, and for Reaper it got worse. His blade struck the armor, and suddenly his pride and joy was shattered. The shards of metal that had once formed the wicked weapon's blade fell to the floor, striking the metal and making music that sounded mournful and sad. The cloaked Eternal went wide-eyed and slack jawed for a moment.

The Hunter in question tapped his armor with his available hand. "Vibro-resonance armor, reserved only for elite units. This armor shatters any non-beam weapons upon contact, including bullets. Guess you should've done your homework, eh, monster?" He fired again, but Reaper was gone, and a ceiling panel clattered to the floor. Immediately, both busters pointed upwards, tracking back and forth.

"Is he gone?!" asked one of the Hunters frantically. "Please, Siggy, tell me he's gone! I do _not_ want to fight him when he's _that_ pissed off!"

"Blu, shut up and run a thermal sweep!" the elite soldier named Singol replied. "If he's up there, we need to find him."

"You won't track him that way," spoke a voice from behind them. A white-hot tendril of plasma suddenly wrapped around Blu's throat. "He has heat sinks." With a slight tug, the tentacle of heat burned straight through the lightly-armored neck of the unsuspecting Hunter, severing his head and allowing both pieces of his corpse to topple to the ground noisily. Singol turned around, horrified by the spectacle but even moreso by the one who perpetrated it.

"L-Lafteroth?!" he stammered out. She only looked at him with misty eyes before unhooking something from her belt and rendering it airborne with an underhand lob. It sailed over his head, but something caught it, activated it, and drove the sizzling blade of a beam scythe through the Hunter's back so far that the tip poked through his chest. He looked in disbelief at the wound that had vaporized his power core, and then looked up at the white-haired Locke. His mouth moved, wording "why" over and over, but the motions were concealed by his helmet as he slowly sank to his knees. The emerald-armored Reploid girl walked over to him, a single tear running down her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Singol," she said, removing his helmet and stroking the side of his face. "But this is what I believe in now. I only hope that some day you will be able to forgive me." Upon hearing those words, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped forward. Reaper withdrew the scythe from his victim, deactivated the blade, and stood admiring the hilt; Lafteroth fell forward onto her knees, her entire frame shaking with soundless sobs as the tears fell from her eyes to the floor.

"Thanks for the scythe," the Eternal said. "I didn't think I'd _ever_ finish building mine, let alone find one." He turned and began to walk down the hallway, his mind already off the encounter and back on the track of eliminating every Hunter in the Detroit base.

"...do you even care?" Lafteroth asked, her voice quiet and cracking from the sorrow. Reaper paused mid-stride for an instant.

"No," he said simply, resuming his walk. "I really don't."


	28. Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**08:17 March 12th, 2151**

"Holy shit."

"Yeah."

"Holy. Shit."

"Mmm-hmm."

Shandor's mouth was agape as he stared down the bloody hallway. He wondered if maybe his optics were malfunctioning, giving him a false reading, sending his electronic brain a deceptive signal. In an effort to clear this he did the only thing available for him to do, an all-too-human action: he rubbed his eyes. Another look, another rub, and one more for the road. No matter how many times he tried to clear his vision of what seemed like something derived from the mind of a twisted and deformed madman, the vision remained: a passage full of dead and tortured bodies, conductive fluids and human blood mixed and smeared on the wall.

Noticing his stance, Midnight eyed his brother slyly. "It's not... making you uncomfortable, is it?"

"Hell no!" came the raven-haired Reploid's quick lie, but he uncomfortably shifted his weight and fiddled with the hilt of his deactivated beam saber. He had drawn it because he expected some resistance; instead, he found a massacre. It did make him a bit queasy, he hated to admit, but it even made him a bit... sad. Sorrow was not an emotion that he was familiar with.

His purple-clad brother idly flicked a piece of lint from the tip of his thumb. "Good," said Midnight. "Because you really should see Reaper's swathe..."

"_What?!_" Shandor whirled on his brother, his eyes wide. "You mean this _isn't_ Reaper's hall?!" A shake of the wide-brimmed hat provided his sibling's response. "But... then who went this way?"

"Tome."

The raven-haired Reploid visibly paled. Tome had always struck him as the nice one, the one who didn't like violence as much as his brothers... even though his Hunter kill record was at a none-too-modest number of 643. But to think that even the youngest Eternal was capable of such destruction was shocking. Admittedly, the more vile side of Shandor was admiring the form: while there was a lot of plasma scoring and headshots, there were a significant number of hand-to-hand injuries as well, suggesting that the red-and-blue armored Eternal wasn't afraid of getting up close and personal.

_I always figured him to be purely a ranged fighter_, Shandor thought with a shrug as he and Midnight started to walk through the blood-slicked corridor.

After a minute of walking and several more gruesome murder scenes, the raven-haired Locke attempted to make conversation. "How..." he began, hesitated, and started again. "How is it that you can stand this, Middy? I mean, as sadistic of a bastard as you are, I'm still surprised you're able to stomach this."

There was a long pause before his brother replied. "I've... I've seen things like this before."

"No foolin'? I mean, I remember what happened to Dad and that you were there, but that was only once."

The purple-clad Locke didn't reply out loud. _No, that doesn't count_, he thought somberly, _Because I perpetuated _that_ murder..._

* * *

_**Hillsborough, New Jersey; United States of America**_

_**14:33 June 29th, 2144**_

_The apartment was dark. As in, really dark. The blinds were closed, the shades were drawn, and it didn't help that outside it was overcast. There was no thought of rain, but it was your standard New Jersey summer day. Of course, being dark also helped cool it down a little but did nothing to dampen the humidity, a fact that Midnight realized was one of the causes of his reluctance to come here often._

_However, the old man that resided here was also a primary reason._

_Dr. Jay Anthony Locke, growing decrepit and arthritical in his old age, shuffled across the grey carpet, maneuvering his aging body around obstacles such as a chair, a table, and even his mechanical "son" in order to get to the computer. He had more than one of these "wind-up children", as he himself had said, but this one was the only one present, the only one that he could really trust to do what he was supposed to. But that was why his purple-robed "son" was there that day._

_"Father," he said, using a cautious voice. What he was talking about was sensitive, but the silent and gloomy atmosphere of the entire apartment seemed to demand no voices be raised while within its boundaries. "Allow me to speak my mind."_

_The doctor grumbled as he eased himself into his chair. "Fine, but make it quick; I have a lot of work to do."_

_"What you are doing is rash," Midnight continued, "You know I have concerned myself only with the Balance this past decade, even going so far as to forcefully enforce it among my siblings. But what you are trying to accomplish now is madness. I fear for your safety... and for your mental health."_

_"I will not be insulted," Locke began, but was interrupted by a coughing fit before he resumed. "I will not be insulted by my own creation. I know you think this is risky business, but I know what I am doing. I designed your minds, after all. I know how you think and how you will react to almost everything... the almost is only because you are a Reploid, and designed to mimic a human's behavior almost perfectly, including the unpredictability."_

_"Please listen!" Midnight clasped his hands together as his voice went up an octave, displaying an unprecedented amount of emotion. "If you keep doing this, father, my siblings will rebel! I can handle two, maybe three of them at once, but if they all band together, I won't be able to keep you safe! This could kill you! The Threadfallen is too volatile of a glitch to be properly controlled--"_

_"IT IS NOT A GLITCH!" roared the old man, pounding a fist on his desk with such intensity that the purple-robed Locke feared that he might have hurt himself. "It is an evolutionary tool! Your birth nanites were the result of that so-called 'glitch'; if I had not collected the proper data on your reaction, I would never have been able to format the nanites properly."_

_Midnight felt his blood begin to boil. "Don't fool yourself. Threadfallen never could be controlled; it drove Aurora insane right up until the end, and has already begun to takes its toll upon Shandor. You cannot use it to control the Balance; Nova is gone, and Lafteroth is suspecting something. I wouldn't be surprised if she traced me here when I left."_

_"Posh," Locke commented dryly. "She is nothing but a ditzy girl. Designing her A.I. to be like that was my greatest mistake in an otherwise flawless design; she is far too naive. The Fell-Deluxe strain of the Threadfallen shall straighten her out." His son clenched and unclenched his fists silently within the folds of his robe. While he was known for being apathetic and cold, he did have a special place in his heart for Lafteroth: she was special to him, and he didn't want to see her harmed._

_"I will not allow you to inject her with FDX," he said simply, crossing his arms._

_His father smiled slyly. "I'm afraid you are too late for that, Midnight." The Reploid's purple eyes went wide, a move not unseen by Dr. Locke and one that elicited a chuckle. "You didn't know? How do you think I got it into Aurora? Or Shandor? Do you think they came willingly and subjected themselves voluntarily to this treatment? I have been using you, son, as a delivery system."_

_Midnight's jaw went slack as he stared into the cold, uncaring face of his father. The steely grey eyes that stared back were filled with apathy, and he made no attempt to conceal his pride; it shone in his pupils like a beacon on a hill in the dead of night. The purple-clad Reploid's eyes narrowed, out of pure and unfettered hatred for the first time as he came to a conclusion: "You bastard... you're a monster!"_

_In a fury, Locke rose from his chair. "Do not speak like that to me! You are infected too; the only reason that you show no sign is that I have designed the Threadfallen to ignore your core structure, but with the mere utterance of a simple phrase, I shall set it loose upon your systems!"_

_"I should have realized so long ago," Midnight continued, taking a step forward. "So long ago, that you were mad, that you were so foolish that you would cross us. Now I see that you have no shame, and are concerned only with your precious Balance."_

_"One which you helped me craft," Locke grinned, but took a step back._

_"I did it because I believed it would help the others; I see now that I was wrong." He took another step forward._

_Locke stepped back once again, but bumped into his desk. "Don't come closer, or I'll let Threadfallen loose!"_

_Another step._

_"THE EAST IS BLOSSOMING, FOR IT IS MO--" Suddenly, Dr. Locke couldn't finish the sentence. No moral reservations stayed his tongue, nor did mental affliction distract him. He couldn't finish it because suddenly his throat was closed. In front of him, Midnight's hand was raised in a simple grasp of nothing, both his palm and his eyes glowing a brilliant purple in the darkness._

_"Silence. I speak." Locke struggled a bit for air, but found none forthcoming. "Father, your foolishness astounds me," the purple-clad Reploid said. "You think you can cross me? In your name, I ended the lives of Fritz, Furion, and Nova; you think I cannot kill a simple human? The blood of my siblings has stained my hands; show me some sign of remorse, or I shall end you."_

_The doctor only struggled to get air to his lungs. Midnight slowly shook his head._

_"So be it." Immediately after this was said, Locke's throat was open. Before he could say anything, however, he felt an indescribable pain worse than even his most painful arthritis attacks. Every molecule in his body felt like it was going in a different direction, and as he looked down at himself, he found that was indeed the case. He was slowly coming apart, being messily unraveled by his own creation's powerful telekinetic field. Dr. Locke had not enough air in his lungs to scream as it happened._

_As such, the Threadfallen FDX did not affect more than two of Midnight's siblings, who in a stroke of irony were the only ones to survive._

* * *

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**08:19 March 12th, 2151**

The feeling flowed over him in waves of heat and energy. Taggs reveled in the thoughts and pleasures that came with passing the 700 marker: everything was so much simpler. If it moved, it died; if it stopped moving, it died some more; if it was no longer in one piece, it was dead, and he moved on. Pain, misery, and death were the he brought, the _only_ thing for him to consider. There were a few off-limits things for such a focus of destructive energy, namely his brothers, but they suffered the same, so they were fine.

He dashed down the hallway and sliced through another guard. Others standing nearby, even those heavily armed and armored, began to turn and flee. Despair... that was another emotion he could bring and it was easy to invoke too. Just kill someone loved, and watch the lover fall apart. Those two Hunters that had been caught half-naked in the supply closet when he appeared had been a perfect example of that. Unlike his brothers, he did not grin as he went through the nasty chore of bringing death; his face was grimly set in a scowl, slicing through a non-com.

Somewhere in the back of his mind was a voice. It spoke to him, told him which targets were acceptable and which weren't, which ones deserved the beloved destruction. He had listened to that voice for a long time, even right up to the start of the hour, but now he found the voice boring and restrictive. Who could tell him who would die? He showed no hesitation, no remorse; these things would slow down the pain, the misery, and the death.

However, someone dared intrude. A shot rang out, and a small ball of plasma ricocheted off his shoulder armor. Taggs stopped mid-stride and turned on his heel, finding himself face to face with another Hunter. This one, however, was different than the others. He had a pointy helmet, red and blue, with a shining blue gem on the forehead and a tuft of orange hair protruding from the back. Small, thin wings sprouted from a thruster pack on his back that was linked to his armor, which was also red and blue, but he wore a grey jumpsuit underneath. In both his hands he clutched identical devices that seemed to be blocky versions of his own Magnum Buster. He seemed really young, and had an interesting X-shaped scar on the bridge of his nose.

"That was just a warning shot, Maverick," the youthful Reploid growled, "My name is Axl, and I'm here to place you under arrest."

Taggs blinked a moment and considered what he had said. Suddenly, a light went on in his head. "Axl! Yeah, I remember you. Did Little Boy Blue send you? I was itching for a good fight, since my primary target won't last long."

"Why are you here?" Axl questioned, ignoring the seemingly inane blather.

"To kill," was the only response the Hunter got before Taggs rushed forward, arms stretched out in front of him and his hands balled into fists. He struck the young prototype in the face with one, and twisted the other downward to inflict a blow to his chest. Stumbling back, Axl fired off his two pistols, but Taggs was moving already.

In a blur, Taggs was behind the youth, grabbing him by the neck and flinging him backwards over his head and into the floor. Whirling around, the black-and-gold armored Eternal brought up his Magnum Buster and fired a shot, but the scarred Hunter had quick reflexes and rolled out of the way, firing as he went. A few shots pinged off Taggs' red chest plate, causing the insane Eternal to giggle before slicing downward with his beam saber. Axl kept rolling and jumped to his feet, barely slipping out of the way of the saber and bringing his knee up into Taggs' gut. The black-and-gold armored Eternal stumbled a bit as the youth brought his elbow down into where a kidney would be if he had them. However, the more experienced combatant was quick to recover and smashed a fist into his face and a foot into his groin. As Axl's knees buckled, Taggs seized him by his hair and slammed his face into the wall twice.

On the third try, the scarred Hunter put a foot out to stop himself and fired his left air thruster, throwing himself into a spin and forcing the Eternal to let go. Outstretching a hand, he seized Taggs by the face and continued to spin, pulling him up and up until finally running his opponent's head into the ceiling. Dropping back to the ground, he fired several shots at the Reploid, but Taggs dropped to the ground and rolled, bringing up his own weapon and charging it. Axl continued to fire, and despite the fact that a few of the projectiles found their mark, the black-and-gold armored Eternal completed his charge and fired the plasma blast. The sheer force of the detonation slammed the young prototype's body back into the wall, snapping his neck backward and causing him to fall to the floor.

As the room darkened for the young fighter, Taggs stood up fully and walked over to the Hunter lying on the floor in front of him. Looking down his nose with his burning golden-white eyes, he felt a small twinge of compassion for the Reploid. He reminded him a lot of X when they first fought.

_...eh, what the hell_, he thought. _The kid's learned his lesson. I'll let him live, for now._

Reaching down, Taggs seized the two pistols and picked them up, examining them. They were well-made, obviously based off of the design of the prototype he stole years ago, and even had some of the improvements he had made to it. With a quick motion, he removed both power sources and crushed them in his hand, dropping the now-useless weapons back down to the boy.

"I was using hand-held weapons before they were cool," he said simply, turning and walking away. _Next target: Calibur._

* * *

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**08:20 March 12th, 2151**

Upstairs of both Taggs and Reaper, Coal and Tome together finished off the last of the elite Hunters. Tome held the limp body by its head in front of him as his grey-armored brother took careful aim with his arm buster. He held the firing contacts for a few seconds, charging up an armor-piercing shot before releasing it straight into the soldier's chest. It penetrated deep, burning away the core's containment field and allowing the energy to spill out in a wonderful and morbid light show.

"Goodnight, Alriik," Coal said simply as his brother released the body and let it crumple to the floor. He looked at his brother who gave him a thumbs-up, and he returned the gesture. "Is our target nearby?"

Tome closed his eyes for a second, remembering the map of the base they had consulted before arriving at the base. They were now on the fourth floor, after cutting a bloody swathe of destruction through their respective sectors. At one point their paths had crossed and they joined up to double their speed and power. When the squad of elite Hunters had jumped them, they easily gunned down two of them; the third fled. They put up chase, not believing in the scare tactics of their brother Reaper. Straightforwardness had always won them the day, so why change ways now?

The red-and-blue armored Eternal tapped a finger on the door that they stood in front of. "He's in there?" Coal queried, to which he received a nod. Tome was never talkative when he passed 700; neither were Rook or Nox, but they hadn't gone that far in years. It was a liberating feeling, Coal had to admit, but it still felt... wrong. However, he wasn't quite beyond 700 yet; he was only at 695. The proximity to it dragged on his mind, but he could still formulate plans that Tome would be able to follow.

"Alright, on the zero..." Coal began, arming his buster and beginning a charge. Tome's buster formed on his arm and the red-and-blue armored Eternal switched the mode of fire to rapid. Each put their backs to opposite sides of the door.

"Three...

"Two...

"One...

"ZERO!" the grey-armored Eternal shouted, and each threw their weight against the door. It crumpled like tin foil and each leveled their busters and prepared to fire. However, as they did that, a sudden and gigantic eruption of plasma erupted from just beyond the doorway, enveloping both brothers and hurling them back against the wall. A grinning Calibur stepped out into the hall, his arm changed into a glowing, steaming buster.

"Heh, you guys should learn to be a bit more quiet when trying to break into somebody's office," he said as the two brothers struggled to get up. "Someone _important_ might hear you coming. Now, it's time for some real fun!"


	29. Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

**Maverick Hunter Base Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**08:21 March 12th, 2151**

Coal and Tome Eternal were never known for staying down. They had been hit with bullets, plasma, lasers, shells, rockets, grenades, gravity weapons, shockwaves, EMPs, slugs, rocks, sticks, stones, and bovines; none of these had ever succeeded in keeping them on the ground for more than a few seconds. Calibur knew this, since he believed that not knowing your enemy was a sure way to royally screw over any chance you had of winning, but still wasn't fully prepared for what happened after his blast knocked the two brothers up against the wall.

Even though both of the armored intruders struck the wall with their backs, each was able to propel himself off the wall with his legs, hit the ground rolling, and then leap up and slam an open palm into Calibur's face in perfect synch with the other. The ferocity of the maneuver caused the flight-type to lose his balance and tumble backwards, slamming into the floor while Coal and Tome spring boarded off his face with their hands. They acrobatically flipped through the air and landed behind his desk. The red-and-blue armored Eternal swept the desk clear of all items while his grey-armored counterpart located a hidden control panel sunken into the underside of the flat surface. Pressing a button, the door of the room slammed shut and went into emergency lockdown mode.

"Now there's nowhere to run, Calibur," Coal said darkly, allowing his core to slip past 700. "Time for our revenge!"

In the Hunter's defense, he didn't miss a beat. He leapt up from the floor and immediately opened fire, but the Eternals moved far too quickly: they ducked behind the armored and reinforced furniture, the plasma shots from their opponent merely glancing off the surface. The silver-and-blue armored Hunter realized quickly that he couldn't outmaneuver them in the cramped confines of the room; his flight system needed lots of open spaces to operate. His eyes immediately settled on the reinforced window, but it had been shielded on both sides so nothing fired from the outside-in or the inside-out could breach them. In fact, missiles had been shot at test-panes, and the substance hardly quivered upon detonation, so he knew that nothing short of a nuclear detonation could get him out into the sky.

_Shit, that was way too hasty of me_, he thought as the Eternals popped out and began peppering him with plasma fire. _I should've waited to engage them! Oh well, I dug this hole myself, might as well use it._ He moved out of the hail of energy and threw himself behind the couch. For whatever paranoid reason, the technician in charge of developing the matte-black furniture for the Hunter base had shielded even the Lay-Z-Boys against buster fire. Not only did his new position offer him some cover, but it also gave him a better shot at the Eternals, who crouched behind his own desk. The firefight that ensued was devastating and prolonged, with both sides learning what was shielded, such as the walls and ceilings; and what was not, such as the potted plants and light fixtures.

Surprisingly, Calibur was able to hold his own. Just a few months before he had been entrenched in the final battles of the Maverick Wars, unable to move much aside from prop himself up and open fire on the enemy. He had hardly tasted flight at all during that entire engagement, but had learned surprisingly helpful trench tactics from the Field Commander, and a few of them he found useful in this situation.

Of course, he had prepared for this moment since he learned the Eternals had infiltrated the building. Still firing with one hand, he unhooked an oblong device from his belt, pushed a button in the smooth plastic surface, and lobbed it over the edge of the couch. It landed right in front of the two brothers who immediately recognized what it was and vaulted over the desk to get out of range of the small explosive. It detonated scarcely a second later, and even the reinforced desk couldn't withstand the blast or shrapnel that resulted. The steel furniture in the immediate vicinity was either vaporized by the eruption of pure energy or shredded by the sheer amount of tiny bits of metal. The Eternal brothers fared little better, getting out of range of the immediate energy but still getting thrown off their feet by the shockwave. In addition, the shrapnel began to ricochet around the room thanks to the shielding on the walls, ceiling, and floor, peppering their armor.

Calibur cackled with glee, leaping out from behind his cover to get in close. "You see? You don't stand a chance!"

On the other side of the door, Taggs and Reaper were both poised at the ready, listening intently to what was going on within. In their powered-up states, neither wanted to be kept long from the battle, but their inner soldiers were far from silenced. The years of training they spent in the caverns taught them that coming into the battle at an advantageous time would not only assist their allies but also disrupt their enemies; however, the reverse was also true, so they had to time their entry into the miniature war carefully.

Further down the hall, Lafteroth stood, watching in wonder. She would have liked to have been closer, but couldn't risk it; in the Eternals' current state-of-mind they might mistake her for a foe and attack. The white-haired Locke knew that she couldn't handle them both when they were so high up in the energy levels, so with a sigh she resigned herself to sit back until she could actually enter the battle _without_ getting torn apart by her allies.

As she heard her siblings approaching from behind, Taggs and Reaper's eyes snapped open and they flew at the door. Each cut deftly with their melee weapons, the two energy blades biting deep into the metal of the doorway. However, the reinforced entryway wouldn't fall under a single assault, and the two attacked once more with double ferocity. Once again it held, but each could notice stress fractures beginning to form. With the next strike they not only sliced once more with their beam weaponry but also threw their bodies into the metal. It caved inward, a resounding metal-on-metal shearing sound audibly giving away the fact that the joints had been torn from their mountings on the wall.

Grunting, the two new Eternals rolled in and sprung up, weapons at the ready. Immediately, the pair of eyes took in the entire scene: Calibur stood, a wide grin playing across his face, and their two other brothers were lying in heaps on opposite sides of the room. Coal's armor was noticeably worse for wear with scorch marks, melted sections, and large cracks; he was doubled over near some ruined office furniture on the far side, clutching his sides and making an honest attempt to get up. Tome, on the other hand, was on his back amidst the shattered remains of a desk and not moving; his leg armor units were almost entirely shattered, and his chest and shoulder armor was mostly slagged.

"You fucker!" Reaper screamed, leaping forward and swinging his scythe in a wide arc. "What the hell did you do?!"

Calibur laughed, firing his thrusters for little more than a nanosecond and skating out of the way. "Those two are horrible at close-range. Did you know that? They can hardly stand any prolonged melee combat; once I got them out from behind their cover, it was incredibly easy to damage them." He chuckled as he ducked beneath another swing. "I guess you Eternals aren't all you're cracked up to be, eh?"

Seeing an opening, Taggs lunged forward to catch Calibur in the kneecap, but the flight-type Hunter fired his thrusters again and flattened himself against the ceiling, dropping down when the black-and-gold armored Eternal attempted to compensate by firing his Magnum Buster. As the silver-and-blue Reploid fired his thrusters again and began to dash around the room, the Eternal tracked and fired, but couldn't seem to keep the proper speed. He did notice, with interest, that whenever the shots struck the windows, they dispersed the energy to the corners where it was probably stored. However, he wasn't given an opportunity to capitalize on this as Calibur's elbow slammed into his lightly-armored lower back, knocking him to the floor.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over Calibur. "Remember to watch your back, bitch!" Reaper cried, slicing his beam scythe horizontally. The Hunter reacted quickly enough to avoid the lethal strike to the neck that was intended, but the white-hot fountain of energy still burned off a few layers of paint from his helmet as well as one of the decorative wings. He immediately dropped to the ground and kicked high, catching Reaper in the gut and knocking him back.

Taggs looked up at the battle, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that three spectators had assembled in the doorway. _Dammit, they're just going to get in the way_, he thought to himself as he rose. _I can't hurt them to get them to leave, but if we stay for too much longer, then they're going to get hurt anyway..._ His head suddenly snapped to one side as Calibur's fist connected with his cheek, causing him to stagger backward trying to regain his balance.

"Pay attention when I'm schooling you!" the silver-and-blue armored Hunter cried out, swinging for another punch, when suddenly a buster shot impacted his back. However, it didn't have the usual effects, such as burning or melting; instead it began to scramble his targeting sensors. His HUD now declared Taggs to be an inanimate object and that the fluorescent light above was the greatest danger in the entire area, second only to the speck of dust that rested on the couch. There were several other malfunctions that came popping into his conscious mind, but they were too many to count.

It only took a moment for his internal CPU to readjust and bring everything back to normal, and when it was restored he spun around on his heel and saw that Lafteroth's buster was armed, charging, and leveled with his head.

"Back off," she growled, a strand of white hair falling over her right eye. "That was the _lowest_ attack I could do."

The Hunter Commander merely smirked. "You think reprogramming me will work? You're such a stupid--" He was cut off as Taggs brought his elbow down on the exposed neck of the silver-and-blue armored Hunter. Using Calibur's own body as counterbalance, he spun and brought his knee up into the flight-type's face, smashing his nose and sending him stumbling backwards into the window. His back up against the pane, Calibur's head spun as he tried to clear the stars from his vision. By the time he did, he saw that Reaper and Taggs were both ready to begin the fight anew.

Before he could let off a snide comment, both Eternals began an impressive maneuver: they leaped into the air, flipped, landed on their hands, and then kicked into Calibur's chest with their heels. While this hurt and slammed him against the window harder, the Hunter failed to see what it accomplished until suddenly their feet moved up to point at his face, giving him a perfect view of their warming dash thrusters. Squawking in surprise, Calibur raised his forearms just in time, saving his head from being burned right off his shoulders as the thrusters erupted; however, the paint and armor that protected the intervening limbs was quickly burned off in layers. The Eternals somersaulted forward, propelled by their attack, and just before impacting the wall leaped up, rebounded, did a handspring and backwards flip, sending them flying through the air upside-down at their target. Each reached out with a clenched fist and struck Calibur in the jaw with all the force they could muster.

The Hunter, already pressed against the glass, could feel how helpless his situation seemed. He knew he couldn't survive a prolonged fight with the two Eternals: their brothers hadn't been experienced in close-quarters combat, but these two were experts. He estimated he could last maybe another ten seconds. Suddenly, there was a horrible cracking that shattered his internal reverie. Confused and dazed for a moment, he realized that it didn't originate from his own skeletal frame, but from that of the window. Razor-sharp pieces of glass suddenly surrounded him and his two assailants as they passed through the spider webbed pattern and out into the bright sunlight, plummeting five stories to the unyielding pavement below.

As they tumbled out of the office, the three Locke siblings rushed in. Midnight and Shandor moved to check on the barely-conscious Coal and the totally-out-of-it Tome, respectively; Lafteroth immediately ran to the hole in the window, stepping into the untinted sunlight that streamed into the otherwise darkened room and looked down at the scene below. Amidst thousands of pieces of glass, the three combatants were quickly righting themselves and proceeding with the battle. No matter how many holo-vids she saw, or even when she was there in person and saw it with her own two optics, she was still amazed at how the Eternals could just keep fighting: after being shot, punched, kicked, and even falling five stories onto concrete, both Taggs and Reaper got up and began moving like nothing had happened; Calibur, on the other hand was dodging and maneuvering with a serious limp, and it looked like one of his arms was severely damaged. Not that she cared about him, but she knew that rats often resorted to dirty tricks when they were cornered.

Meanwhile, on the patio below, Taggs and Reaper rushed forward swinging their melee weapons, forcing Calibur to fall back and dodge. Several times the beams of their weapons passed within a hairsbreadth of him, but each time he managed to slip out.

"Hold still, you son of a bitch!" Taggs roared, swinging diagonally and missing as the Hunter jumped backwards.

"Slippery bastard!" Reaper hissed, swinging low in an attempt to get his ankles, but the flight-type fired his jets and took to the skies. However, as he did so, Taggs whipped out his Magnum Buster and fired a power-shot, striking Calibur in the chest and causing him to corkscrew downward. Just before he hit, though, he fired his retro-boosters and avoided any damage caused by the fall.

Taggs watched as a flash of desperation passed over Calibur's face, and while he knew Reaper was smiling at causing so much pain and frustration, the gold-and-black armored Eternal decided to be cautious. A rat, when cornered, was likely to resort to dirty tactics; it would be best for them to remain on their toes.

**Taggs: Reaper, be careful; I think he's going to try something dirty.**

**Reaper: Yeah, I know, but we'll be ready.**

**Coal: No you won't.**

**Taggs: You're awake?!**

**Coal: Only technically. Listen, he's got this damn "overcharge" shot thing; it's what took Tome down so fast, which screwed me over since he knows more about CQC than I do.**

**Reaper: Feh. How bad can it be?**

Calibur was moving again, but this time he was rocketing _towards_ the two brothers. They both brought up their weapons and prepared to block whatever blow was coming, but just before reaching them, Calibur fired his jets and flew above them. Tracking him as he passed overhead and attempting to swing at him, they barely noticed an oblong device drop between them. Reaper was too caught up in trying to get Calibur to pay it too much mind, but Taggs pushed him back a few yards and then jumped to one side himself, barely avoiding the explosion from the grenade.

The black-and-gold armored Eternal took a second to shake the stars from his eyes and clear the ringing sound in his ears, but his cloaked brother was already on his feet and rushing at Calibur. Looking on, Taggs could only watch in horror as the silver-and-blue armored Hunter flipped out of the way and began to charge his buster. But the charge wasn't normal: usually, energy was pulled in through the barrel of the gun from anything nearby, such as a generator, a power socket, or even sunlight. It was then released in an explosive form, sending a wave of energy towards the target. However, this was pulling energy in not only through the barrel, but through some vents and seams in the buster as well. He could only surmise that this would lead to a faster and more powerful charge...

"Reaper! Watch it!" Taggs called out, but his warning fell on deaf ears as the cloaked Eternal made another dash towards the Hunter. Grinning wickedly, Calibur leveled his buster and released the energy. There was a loud _crack!_ like lightning striking a cold surface. A beam of blue plasma struck Reaper dead-center in the chest and hurled him back against the building with incredible force; so much so that, five floors up, the sudden vibration of the Eternal striking the base of the structure caused Lafteroth to temporarily lose her balance and fall closer to the window.

Picking herself up, she looked down again and let out a low whistle. Reaper had been thrown back so hard that the steel in the direct impact area had failed, large cracks extending in all directions and even cracking the windows around it. The area in a two-meter radius beyond that had reached ductile deformation, caving inward but not giving way. The Eternal was suffering as well, with a large section of his chest armor melted through and his synthetic flesh beneath heavily burned; his helmet had been knocked off, letting his faded blue hair drape down in front of his half-lidded eyes, adding to the imagery of the semi-conscious murderer.

She looked up and saw Taggs and Calibur grappling, the silver-and-blue armored Hunter beginning to charge another shot and the black-and-gold armored Eternal attempting to force his buster-arm away from himself. However, in an act of surprising agility, the flight-type twisted out of the other's grip and fired. Taggs barely dodged in time, sidestepping out of harm's way but feeling the heat washing over his body. The shot struck the primary Hunter building, passing right through and out the other side without causing much damage to its structural integrity. Immediately, Calibur raised his other buster, already fully charged, and fired once again. The Eternal ducked this time, the heat-wash boiling some of the paint off the top of his helmet. The plasma raced overhead, struck a building in the distance at an oblique angle and ricocheted, screaming down a city street and out of sight.

"Impressive, Taggs," Calibur mused, jumping above a beam saber slash. "I guess I can't hit you..."

_Finally, he's learning_, Taggs smirked, cutting upward and nicking his opponent's boot.

"But I can hit your heart!" the Hunter cackled, and pointed both busters up at Lafteroth. Her eyes went wide with shock and horror as the busters charged up in a second and unleashed a hellish sapphire fury towards her. For Taggs, time slowed down to a crawl as he looked up. He felt helpless, incapable of doing anything... realization struck him like a boulder. His eyes drifted to Reaper, who lay prone and unmoving, and realized how similar the situation must have been with Cyree. The inevitableness, the sorrow, the heartbreak...

A nanosecond passed, then two. The blast inched ever closer to Lafteroth, and it dawned on him: he loved her. He had known it, but never really figured it out. But now that he had... his mind became steeled and determined, determined to save her. He _had_ to; he could not repeat his brother's mistakes.

The old man's words came back to him in that moment of clarity: _"You and your brother are different people. Even if you're similar, you still have different souls, different hearts. Things won't work out exactly the same twice."_

Before he realized what was going on, he had boosted his Eternal Core up to 953 and fired his dash thrusters, melting the concrete as he rocketed up. The time he spent in his reverie cost him more and more, but he knew he would get there in time. As he came up in front of the hole in the glass, his back to the white-haired object of his desire, he put both his forearms out, intercepting the blue beams. They cut through his outstretched limbs, boiling through armor, flesh, circuitry, and bone; he cried out as the beams kept going and slammed into his chest, where they burrowed deep into the red plate that covered his core, even burning through it. Just when it seemed like it wouldn't stop, the beams faded, having just breached his core's containment chamber. Brilliant light from the Eternal Core, up so high, spilled out and made a marvelously morbid light show. Slowly, surely, he tumbled downward, falling five stories once again and crashing on top of his brother back-first.

"Id-Idiot..." Reaper's hoarse voice sounded right next to his ear as his eyes began to roll into the back of his head. Other people were talking, screaming; Lafteroth was calling out his name frantically, but he couldn't acknowledge her. He could only hear his brother because he was right next to him. "Wh-Why'd you... do that? Sacrificing yourself... for a Hunter bitch... s-s-stupid..."

His last vision before the darkness enveloped him was of Calibur, high in the sky, flying away with dark smoke pouring out of his busters. Then he was overwhelmed and lost to unconsciousness.


	30. Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

**Palmer Park Apartment Building Rooftop, Detroit, Michigan; United States of America**

**19:53 March 12th, 2151**

Overlooking the dark city of Detroit were the Palmer Park apartments, having been expanded upon before the first of the Maverick Wars so they towered above all surrounding buildings. The ancient architecture had been maintained, making it a place most people wanted to live which in turn skyrocketed the rents; however, this mattered little to the former Hunter commander crouched on the roof, holding his head in a pair of mangled hands. His helmet, scorched and broken from a long and difficult battle from which he ultimately emerged defeated, lay next to him, letting his unruly sky blue hair glimmer in the starlight.

Calibur had been beaten, horribly and unequivocally, at his own game. He knew that his actions would antagonize the Eternals, and had even planned for the assault on the base, but he hadn't counted on the force they could exhibit. For the umpteenth time in as many years, he had underestimated the Eternal brothers' skills, but this loss would cost him much more than their previous engagements.

A warrant had just recently been put out for his arrest, putting all Hunter squads in the world on high-alert and sending them looking for him. He had been labeled a traitor to the cause he had tried to help by ridding the world of the Eternals. Thousands upon thousands of Hunters had been killed by those monstrosities, but he was the only one willing to go to great lengths to prevent more deaths! With a kick he sent his helmet skittering for a few feet, but he didn't look up, content to just continue massaging his eyelids.

Everything had fallen apart right in his hands, and what was worse was that it had been his fault. He realized that, but couldn't comprehend it: he _knew_ he was doing the right thing! He wasn't wrong; everybody else was! But now... what did that matter? There was nothing left for him.

Except...

Suddenly his eyes shot open and he stood up so fast that it made him a little dizzy. Of course! How could he have forgotten? His little "pet project"... he had left it with Apex Labs! They didn't care if you were a wanted criminal or the Pope; as long as you had the money to pay, you were alright by them. Knowing the Hunters would be looking for any sign of him, he sent out a query to a local bank network disguised with the universal Hunter Investigation Code. He waited with bated breath as the milliseconds ticked by, and breathed a sigh of relief when the mainframe accepted it. Now, with access to all records, he searched frantically and found what he was looking for: an old account with thousands of credits in it. He smiled deviously: a long time ago, during one of his more risky attempts to bring down the Eternals that could have incurred the Maverick Hunters' wrath, he had set aside some money in an independent account. By now, his Hunter funds would have been frozen, but this was a good thing to fall back on.

Chuckling faintly to himself, he walked over to his helmet and placed it back upon his head. He didn't know why he was laughing like that; after all, this was a risky maneuver, and he would face several life sentences if he slipped up and got caught, but cackling just felt right.

_There's more than one way to get your heart, Taggs Eternal_, he thought, his turbines quietly coming to life and lifting him off the roof_. You can't stop all my strikes, and you shall fail... and even from beyond the grave, I shall have the last laugh!_ His chuckle rose to an outright crazed guffaw as he shot off into the night, bringing with him only madness and sorrow.

* * *

**Cain Labs, Michigan; United States of America**

**10:13 March 13th, 2151**

Slowly but surely the darkness receded, leaving the powerful Taggs Eternal feeling like a feeble kitten. Even after he had fully regained consciousness, he lay in the bed, fiercely protected from the outside world by white polyester sheets and closed eyelids. He had never experienced this weakness before; usually the Eternal Core quickly negated the feeling and, in a non-combat situation, would set to work to repair any damage done, but this time those effects seemed to be absent.

Finally, he was able to crack an eye open and was immediately blinded by streaming sunlight. He let loose a terrific groan, shut his eyes tight and rolled over away from the illumination. Finally though, through slowly opening his eyelids and gradually getting them used to the light, he found himself growing more and more awake. At last he was able to sit up and get a good look at the room around him: it was one similar to the one he had been in a few nights ago when Lafteroth intruded, but this one was closer to the outside of the building, as evidenced by the window adjacent to the bed he currently occupied. Swinging his legs out from under the sheets and touched his naked feet to the cool metal floor, he noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt and had been changed into very loose-fitting cloth pants. He also noticed for the first time that his arms were wrapped in white gauze.

With attentiveness to his possible wounds, he carefully removed the bandages and looked in mild shock at what was underneath: his synthetic flesh was burned, twisted, and scarred; in some places, the heat and force of the blow had completely obliterated the skin and revealed charred wires and circuitry that were beneath. The amount of damage was significant but he had expected his Eternal Core to pick up the slack and start repairing. As he thought hard about this fact, he suddenly realized that he was receiving a notification in his subconscious mind:

**ALERT! Eternal Core system in repressed mode Safe Mode Win21XX**

**Reason:**

** overload in primary EDS; backup in use**

** heavy damage to arm units, requires more than SRS can currently handle**

** risk of deterioration; primary safeguard protocol in effect**

**Action?**

**1.) reboot primary EDS**

**2.) upgrade SRS requires official medical application and supervision**

**3.) disengage primary safeguard protocol**

**Select? **

Taggs resisted the urge to facepalm. He had completely forgotten! Getting so close to 1000 and suddenly dropping down would force his Energy Distribution System into safe mode to keep the energy from running rampantly through his system and burning away his insides. In addition, there was a safeguard to keep him from unconsciously going over 1000 and beginning the deterioration process. He selected options one and three, paused for a moment while the changes took effect, and then relished as the pain and discomfort from his weakness vanished. A quick check confirmed that his self-repair was beginning to fix the damage, but it would take a while.

In the meantime, he stood up and casually dropped the bandages onto the bed. Crossing over to a single chair propped up against the far wall, he found his civilian clothes in mostly the same state he had left them aside from now being completely cleaned, pressed, folded, and still warm from the dry cycle. He ditched the baggy cloth slacks and got dressed in his leather jacket, thick blue-and-gold tee-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. With another glance around the room to make sure that he didn't miss anything, he slid the door open and stepped out into the hallway.

It was completely empty, but from the number painted on the wall, he realized with a smile that he was in the same building as before and only a few rooms down from where he has first run into Lafteroth... though, admittedly, "run into" probably wasn't the best term for the meeting. Letting loose with the first honest chuckle in a long time, he walked down the hallway, hopped on an elevator, and took it down a couple of floors to the lobby.

Stepping out of the elevator, he was hit with a blast of fresh air, causing him to yawn and stretch. He glanced around and nodded hello to the secretary who returned the gesture. Somewhere inside, something was appalled with what he had just done, nodding to Hunter-paid personnel, but he couldn't care less at the moment. He felt great, having worked out a lot of his aggression. Walking into the entrance hall, he was greeted by Reaper, fully cloaked and armored and leaning up against the wall.

The bleached eyes stared at him, but he didn't waver. "Nice to see you finally awake," came the cold emotionless voice.

Taggs tucked a strand of red hair behind his ear. One of the first things he would do would be getting a haircut before disappearing again. "How long was I out?" he asked.

Expecting an exact answer, the red-haired Eternal was taken back by the generality he received: "More than twelve hours." Before he could ask, Reaper plowed forward in the conversation. "I still can't believe what you did."

"You would've done the same for Cyree," Taggs commented, shrugging.

There was no outburst this time, no punching the walls, no taking a swing at Taggs. Instead, Reaper just sighed. "Perhaps," he admitted. "But then again, I didn't, now did I? And I did much worse than you. It's not that I _allowed_ her to die; I'm the one who actually _ended_ her life. I didn't even realize it until later."

Taggs was hesitant to continue the conversation, knowing how tender a subject this was with his brother. "There was nothing you could have done," he consoled, but Reaper didn't respond, instead just staring down at the floor. After another moment, the red-haired Eternal decided to pursue a different topic: "Where's my armor?"

Reaper looked up at him again. "Artemis has it. He's making repairs and fixing a few things that he didn't take care of earlier." When his brother shot him a quizzical look, he huffed in response. "What, you think Artemis would upgrade your armor and _not_ include a few extra bits?"

"No," Taggs admitted, "But I figured it would cost extra. Or they would already be in there."

"Eh," his brother commented with color. He withdrew a piece of paper from the folds of his cloak. "He figured you'd be leaving as soon as you got up, so he told me to give this to you. It's an address of a warehouse in Chicago where you can pick it up in a week. There's also a list of additions he's putting in. Looks like wherever you're gonna be after this is going to be a party." He couldn't suppress a grin as he handed it over.

The red-haired Eternal took it, gave it a glance, and then stuffed it into his pocket. "Thanks, bro, but I think I might be settling down. I mean, how many more of these attacks could I possibly take? The last two times have ended with my armor getting totaled and me waking up fifty miles away." He sighed and gazed out the glass doors. "No, I think it's time I relaxed, if only for a little while."

Reaper looked genuinely curious. "Where could you possibly relax?"

"... in her arms..." Quickly, Taggs slapped a hand over his mouth. He hadn't meant to say it! He wanted to think it! _Think_ it! _Damn you, treacherous vocal orifice!_ he inwardly screamed with rage. _You'll get yours, I'll make sure of it!_ Immediately his eyes snapped over to look at Reaper's face, his mind racing with prayers and hopes beyond hopes that his brother's sensitive ears hadn't caught those words escaping his lips. No such luck: his face wore a dark scowl, and rage flashed behind his bleached eyes.

"You dumbass!" he screamed. "Don't you fucking get it?! Your little 'moment of clarity' yesterday... it was pure chance! You lucked out, but your fortune isn't going to last. She isn't strong enough to handle you when you're raging, to take you on when she needs to and hold you off. Your romance is doomed, it was from the start; my life should have been precedent enough for that. Mark my words, brother: Lafteroth will become the next Cyree, and you will become the next me, the next Reaper_._"

The words hung in the air, acting like lead weights on both Eternals' ears. An unseen fire heated each other from within, causing their smoldering glares to almost generate honest-to-God heat in the small entryway. Taggs' eyes narrowed and a grimace formed on his face; Reaper's stony visage didn't budge. Finally, the cloaked Eternal huffed and turned away.

"You'll see soon enough," he muttered, pushing out through the pair of glass doors. "You'll _all_ see it." For minutes after his brother had left, Taggs still lingered in the entryway, unsure of what to do. Eventually, he resolved himself to seek out Lafteroth. Exiting in a similar manner, he left the building behind him and went searching the grounds for her.

* * *

After five minutes, he came to an all-too-familiar ravine. Merely glancing at it brought back painful memories, ones that repelled him from the place. The feeling of death, the heaviness of one's sorrowful heart, and the smell of an exploded power core... he didn't want to be here. Just as he turned, he saw his white-haired maiden standing on the edge of it looking in, dressed in a green tank-top, grey pants, and sandals. For a moment, he was caught between indecision: he really wanted to speak with her, but he didn't want to go near the pit. But just a second later, when the sunlight flashed through her ivory locks, he made up his mind and approached her. Standing just a little behind her and off to her right side, he looked over her shoulder at the craggy rocks below. The memories that flowed into his head now were bittersweet: the wonderful memories of when he and his brothers were training, when they were considered _normal_... the word seemed so alien now. At the same time, however, he remembered Bane and became painfully aware of the effect his big brother had on him and all his siblings.

He stood for a moment longer before he involuntarily sniffled. Turning her head, Lafteroth did a double-take once she realized it was him and threw her skinny but powerful arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

"I'm so glad to see you up and about!" she said, letting go but staying within what he would consider his personal bubble. "I was worried you weren't going to wake up soon." Flashing him a smile, she seized him by his forearm and tried to pull him closer, but he yelped in pain and pulled away. For a moment she looked hurt, but realization suddenly dawned on her.

"Haven't your wounds healed yet?"

He shook his head, massaging the damaged area.

Lafteroth rolled her emerald eyes. "Let me see them," she said, taking the sleeves of his jacket and rolling them up to his elbows and closely inspecting the damage. "Hmm... I can see your self-repair working, but it's going slow. I thought you Eternals healed fast? You always seemed to recover unnaturally quickly."

"Nah," he replied. "Our Eternal Core doesn't give us some kind of freak, mutant healing factor. It just lets us shrug off damage during combat. We still need maintenance every now and then."

"Well," she said, looking up at him and smiling. "I think I can take care of that for you." With evident care, she placed each of her palms over his wounds and held them there for a second, withdrawing them quickly. After a moment, an alert popped up in Taggs' mind:

**ATTENTION!**

**Unknown nanite presence detected in damaged sectors! Could cause further complications with SRS. Scan? y/n**

**y**

**Process temporarily halted. Scanning...**

**Function confirmed: medical.**

**Allow further treatment? NOTE: this could interfere with SRS. y/n**

**y**

**Affirmative. Resuming nanite repair process...**

The results were immediate: lines of synthetic muscle and flesh were quickly drawn over the damaged sections, burn marks faded back to the color and elasticity of his skin, and in a moment they looked good as new. Better, even.

"What...?" he began to question.

"Automatic Repair Nanites," Lafteroth cut him off. "I have several types, but those have so far been the most useful." He nodded, not completely understanding but not about to question such help. They continued to stand there for several more minutes, just looking into the crevice in front of the couple.

Finally, Lafteroth broke the silence. "What is this place, anyway? Is it important at all?"

Taggs hesitated, not wanting to answer. "It's... no, it's not important. But I did come here to talk to you, so I might as well get that out of the way." She looked up at him, her green irises making an interesting contrast with the whites of her eyes and the streaks of blue under them. "...you know, those eye-streaks just don't go with the rest of the look."

She huffed, but did it with a smile. "That's what you came to talk about? Fashion tips?" She nudged him playfully and he nudged back. "Actually, I was thinking of changing the look. I mean, I never really liked the streaks, and I've got nanites to change that. They're just not active. Also, I was thinking of a different hair color."

"Oh?" he asked, genuinely curious. "What color?"

Snagging one of his bangs, she tugged at it lightly. "Something like this... but darker."

"Speaking of weird hair," he commented, "Where are your brothers? Or my _other_ brothers?"

"They took off," she said, letting go of his hair. "Drinking, I think, though your brothers are wanted mass-murderers and might have a hard time getting into a bar. But you do have to thank Midnight, though; after Calibur took you down, he doubled back to finish you and the rest of us off. Middy almost ripped him apart with a gravity field and sent him running with his tail between his legs." She wrapped both her arms around his waist and drew him closer. "Now, what do you _really_ want to talk about?"

Taggs sighed. Reaper's words were still ringing in his head. "Well," he began. "I was thinking. I mean, I know I have to run again. The Hunters will probably redouble their efforts to find us, and I don't think all the scary ghost stories in the world about us could keep them at bay for much longer." Lafteroth nodded. She was aware of the tales, though she knew now that a few of them weren't true; she hadn't yet seen them breathe fire or phase through walls. "But I was thinking... where should I go? What should I do?" He paused. "I figured... you'd have the answer."

"Mm," she responded, pursing her lips. "No rush, I suppose. You've got an eternity to decide, don't you?"

The red-headed Eternal opened his mouth to speak, then shut it, questioning the wisdom of what he was about to say. He repeated the process twice more in rapid succession before he finally threw caution to the wind and said it: "It's an eternity I'd like to spend... with you."

Silence pervaded the atmosphere for a full three heartbeats, both looking into each other's eyes. It was the same look, the same affectionate gaze that they exchanged what seemed like a lifetime ago... but in reality, it was only a couple of days. Then each drew nearer, embracing the other in a long and slow kiss. During the lip-lock, Lafteroth's foot dislodged a single stone from the cliff's precipice and sent it skittering down the steep slope and into the ravine. It careened off a boulder and struck something with a resounding clang. It was a metal cross, hastily erected and bound with two-inch metal cable, and just a few brief words inscribed with a cutting laser:

_BANE_

_Commander; Friend; Dearly Loved Brother_

By the time the sound bounced off the natural walls of the crevice and found its way back to the origin point of the loosened earth that created it, a process that in its entirety took no more than a second, the two lovers were gone. In their place they left only the fading light of a satellite-guided teleport and an adventure of sorrow and disturbed alleviation.


	31. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

**intercepted burst-transmission; location unknown  
Timestamp: April 2nd, 2151**

**Coal: ...and that's pretty much the entire story.**

**Tome: Sorry that we couldn't be more specific in some cases... we weren't there for all of it, so we had to embellish a little.**

**Rook: Wow... so... that's it, huh?**

**Nox: Amazing...**

**Coal: To you, maybe. You didn't have to live through it. In fact, where the hell were you?!**

**Nox: I heard about the Hunters' renewed search for us through an informant, so I took to the hills. I got that stupid "ghost ping", but didn't respond for obvious reasons. Seriously. Don't try to search me out; I know everything, and if I don't show up on my own accord, I'm not interested!**

**Tome: Shut up! We could have really used your help. You and your goddamn secrets, I swear...**

**Coal: Knock it off, you two. What about you, Rook? Who was the "moon man"?**

**Rook: That was Calibur. He showed up to assassinate me because he was worried that I'd tip the scales too far in your favor. If it wasn't for Jotuz and this weird proximity alarm thing he built I probably wouldn't be here right now. Oh, and sorry about that, by the way.**

**Coal: Sorry about what?**

**Rook: About Jotuz. He's a little stir crazy. I think it's because of the heat.**

**Coal: Yeah, well, that can only be expected from a human... one shouldn't be living in those conditions...**

**Rook: Actually, he's a Reploid.**

**Coal: ...come again?**

**Rook: You know how Taggs got that new armor from Artemis, and he said it was NextGen? Well, the late Dr. Cain was working on a new model of Reploid called "NextGen"; Arty probably just took the design and applied it to armor. But Jotuz is one of the prototypes; a more civilian type, unlike Axl. In fact, his design is based on someone we know.**

**Nox: Who?**

**Rook: The littlest one of us all.**

**Tome: ... you're kidding. That crazy old coot is based off MY blueprints?**

**Rook: Yeah. In fact, your body is one of the main templates for most new models.**

**Tome: Huh. Well how about that.**

**Nox: As stimulating as that is, I have to ask: what about the Hunters? Shouldn't they have hunted us down by now?**

**Coal: That's what we thought as well. In the end, though, X approached us diplomatically.**

**Rook: That's a first.**

**Tome: He didn't even ask anything of us. He just said that it would look incredibly bad to say that one of the greatest Maverick Hunter bases in the world was infiltrated by just four of us and that it would also give the public too much information about our designs.**

**Coal: Plus they had their hands full trying to come up with a discreet but still legal was to punish Apex Labs.**

**Rook: What do they have to do with anything?**

**Coal: I dunno. The name came up a lot in Calibur's records, but other than that I can't be sure of anything.**

**Nox: I think they were commissioned by our fine feathered friend to develop a core similar to ours. At least, that's what my informant says.**

**Rook: Bastards... have they no respect for the dead? Let them rest in peace, and join our Lord and Father in heaven.**

**Tome: Heaven? Us? I don't think so.**

**Coal: Look, whatever they were attempting, the Hunters couldn't find any evidence of any sort of illegal activity during their raid... at least, nothing pertaining to what they were looking for. I think they decided on an under-the-table fine and a couple of years probation, plus full Hunter supervision if they try anything like it again.**

**Nox: That's appropriate, I think.**

**Rook: That's it? No investigation into the events? No loved ones concerned about the sudden disappearance of relatives?**

**Tome: Well, like I said, they couldn't afford to blotch their own record by telling the truth, or cause a public panic. So they said it was a weapons testing accident: a new bomb that went off. It also explained the damage to the surrounding area quite well.**

**Nox: A bomb? I would think you guys were a bit more precise with your work.**

**Tome: Well, they... they purposefully burned a lot of the bodies to make them look convincing, and even did the same thing to most of the levels so the investigators could have convincing photos to show the public. In fact, Commander Dorio is the one who's heading the cover-up campaign.**

**Nox: That's just sick... wait, Dorio? As in Commander Sevir Dorio of the 50th Black Ops unit?**

**Rook: Wait, isn't he the guy...?**

**Tome: Yeah, he's the one who was in charge of the first attempt to destroy us, the one right after the Third Maverick War. He's always had it in for us since we killed half his unit and sent two others into intensive care.**

**Nox: That guy has such a chip on his shoulder about that... seriously, why can't he just let it go? Nobody liked them anyway.**

**Rook: And what about Calibur?**

**Tome: He's dead.**

**Nox: ... what?!**

**Rook: ... what?!**

**Coal: They found his body in the furnace room of some motel in Dexter, Michigan. His core had exploded, and there were burns and cuts all over his body... also, some components of his brain had been ripped out of his head.**

**Nox: Think it could've been self-inflicted?**

**Tome: No, all signs point to homicide. Not that we care. But there was something else. They scanned his remains and found something: he was viral.**

**Nox: What?! He was a Maverick?? That's impossible! The Hunter bases have loads of scanning equipment to make sure one of their own can't go viral without them noticing it.**

**Tome: Nobody's sure, but they theorize that he used his Commander status to bypass a lot of security, and the stuff he didn't get around was tricked by some sort of block. The Hunters are scanning their databases looking for any sort of tampering with the data.**

**Coal: That's not the weirdest part. The weirdest part is that there were traces of Eternal Core energy all over the furnace room, going both in and out.**

**Rook: So... was it Reaper? It seems like his kind of vengeance thing.**

**Coal: Couldn't have been him. He's still sulking in Germany, not that I blame him. He's started terrorizing the surrounding towns as some hideous spectre of death, though.**

**Rook: ... at least he's getting some social interaction.**

**Nox: Was it Taggs?**

**Coal: It could've been. It's true that we haven't heard from him... but according to Reaper, he decided to lie low with Laffy for a while. A vacation, I suppose. And I haven't heard from him since he picked up his armor from the warehouse when Artemis sent me to make sure he got it.**

**Tome: Oh yeah, what does his new armor look like?**

**Coal: The jerk turned the black back to blue. Taggs apparently didn't like it; said it gave him too much of a "dark feeling". Pansy.**

**Tome: But other than that...?**

**Coal: Other than that, it's great. Still has all the shiny things from before, and he added a few new features.**

**Nox: Like wha--...**

**Rook: Wait, did you hear that?**

**Tome: Yeah, rustling. Someone else is here...**

**Coal: Hunters. I'm sure of it. Okay, break the transmission, silence the bastards, and scatter. We can't all afford to get captured now, can we?**

**transmission ended**

THE END


End file.
